The Trump administration has been critical of Nigeria, citing reports of Christians being killed. Superstar rapper Nicki Minaj is now lending her support toward attempts by the U.S. to ease that group’s plight and will meet with the White House and the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz. The two are expected to deliver remarks after that meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 18).
The Pink Friday artist gushed over the opportunity, responding in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Ambassador, I am so grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude,” she wrote. “I do not take it for granted. It means more than you know. The Barbz & I will never stand down in the face of injustice. We’ve been given our influence by God. There must be a bigger purpose.”
Nicki Minaj previously spoke out about the situation earlier this month, writing: “No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other. Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice.”
Trump has targeted Nigeria before, placing the country on a U.S. religious freedom watchlist during his first term. His rhetoric condemning the violent extremism in Nigeria has become more brash, as he wrote in a video released on Truth Social that he would “do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be happy about” and that the U.S. would “go into that now-disgraced country guns-a-blazing.”
Nigeria is experiencing a problem with violent extremist groups such as Boko Haram and other jihadist groups, such as ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province), who have launched insurgencies to establish a caliphate in the western part of the nation since 2009. Daniel Bwala, aide to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, said in a statement: “Nigeria is a partner nation to the U.S., not a hostile one. The ‘Christian genocide’ narrative is a misrepresentation of our complex security reality, which affects citizens of all faiths.”
According to reporting by the BBC, the figures being touted apparently come from a 2023 report by non-governmental organization InterSociety, claiming that 100,000 Christians had been killed in fighting since 2009, along with 60,000 “moderate Muslims.” Security experts in the nation of 220 million state that ethnic tensions, more than religious tensions, might be the main cause.
