The rural town of Jabo is part of Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria, which the Trump administration and the Nigerian government said was bombed during the raid.
Both sides said that the militants were killed during the attack, but did not identify them or determine the number of victims.
Kabir Adamu, a security analyst from Beacon Security and Intelligence in Abuja, He said The island The potential targets are members of the Lacurawa group, a recently formed branch of ISIS.
But the Trump administration’s explanation that their home is in the heart of A “Christian genocide” Many residents of Jabu were left confused. like CNN I mentioned:
While parts of Sokoto face challenges related to banditry, kidnapping and attacks by armed groups including Lakurawa – which Nigeria classifies as a terrorist organization due to suspected links to armed groups. [the] ISIS villagers say Jabu is not known for terrorist activity, and that local Christians coexist peacefully with the Muslim majority.
Bashar Issa Jabo, an MP who represents the town and surrounding areas in the Nigerian Parliament, described the village as “scary”. CNN As a “peaceful community” it has “no known history of ISIS, Lacurawa or any other terrorist groups operating in the region.”
While the town has a Muslim majority, resident Suleiman Kajara told reporters: “We consider Christians our brothers. We do not have religious conflicts, so we did not expect this.”
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with more than 237 million people, has a long history of violence between Christians and Muslims, each of whom makes up about half the population.
However, Nigerian officials did Disputed Claims from Republican leaders – including US Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) – who claim the government is “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians.”
Senator recently He claimedWithout citing a source for the numbers, he said, “Since 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been slaughtered in Nigeria, and more than 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been destroyed” by the Islamist group Boko Haram.
Cruz is right that many Christians have been killed by Boko Haram. But according to Reports According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, based in the United States, and the Council on Foreign Relations, the majority of the approximately 53,000 civilians killed by the group since 2009 were Muslims.
Moreover, the areas where Boko Haram is most active are in northeastern Nigeria, far from where Trump’s strikes were carried out. Attacks on Christians quote Meanwhile, in October, Cruz was in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, an area separate from the violence in the north.
The Nigerian government responded to what it described as an “overly simplistic” narrative coming out from the White House and from figures in the US media, such as HBO Host Bill Maher, who echoed Cruz’s exaggerated claims of “Christian genocide.”
Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Muhammad Idris Malaji, said: “To portray the security challenges facing Nigeria as a campaign directed against one religious group is a gross distortion of reality.” “While Nigeria, like many countries, has faced security challenges, including acts of terrorism committed by criminals, portraying the situation as a deliberate and systematic attack on Christians is inaccurate and harmful. It oversimplifies a complex and multifaceted security environment and plays into the hands of terrorists and criminals who seek to divide Nigerians along religious or ethnic lines.”
Anthea Butler, a religious scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, criticized the Trump administration’s attempts to turn the complex situation in Nigeria into a “holy war.”
“This topic of Christian persecution is a very politically charged, and in fact religiously charged, topic for evangelicals around the world. And when you say Christians are being persecuted, that’s a big deal.” she said Democracy Now! In November. “It fits into this kind of savior narrative for this kind of American spirit right now that sees itself going to countries for moral warfare, or moral suasion, as the case was, to do something to help others.”
Nigeria also produces more crude oil than any other country in Africa. Trump has explicitly argued that the United States should undertake regime change in Venezuela for the purposes of “reclaiming” that country’s oil.
Butler has questioned the sincerity of Trump’s concern for the country’s Christians due to his administration’s refusal to admit Nigerian refugees, as well as almost every other refugee group, with the exception of white South Africans.
“I think it is disingenuous to say that you are going to go and save Christianity in Nigeria, when, you know, you have prevented Nigerians from coming to this country,” she said.
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