Pramila Jayapal, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has criticised President Donald Trump’s recent comments about alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, calling his approach oversimplified and dangerous.
Trump had recently placed Nigeria back on the U.S. list of “countries of particular concern” and suggested that American troops could be sent into the country “guns blazing” to eliminate Islamic extremist groups accused of attacking Christian communities.
During a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jayapal argued that Trump’s description of the situation ignored the complicated realities behind the violence in Nigeria.
She said the conflict cannot be reduced to a simple case of Christians being targeted solely because of their faith, pointing out that religion is not the main cause of violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“Certainly, religion is a contributing factor to the violence, but a review by the Search for Common Ground found that in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, religion was not a primary driver of conflict,” she said.
“Instead, violence has been directed against both Christians and Muslims, regardless of religion, at the hands of armed terror groups like Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, or fuelled by differences in lifestyle between farmer and herder groups compounded by climate change and governance issues.
“And so, I want to start by saying I’m very concerned that a day after President Trump saw a clip on Fox News about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, he threatened to go ‘guns-a-blazing’ in Nigeria and revoke all assistance.
“Can you tell me under what authority would the US military strike inside of Nigeria?” Jayapal asked Jonathan Pratt, a senior official at the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs, who was a witness on the panel.
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Pratt responded that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had instructed the department to create a full action plan, working together with the Nigerian government.
“The secretary of state has directed us to put together a comprehensive plan that uses all tools at our disposal, including security and the Department of War, and this would be primarily focused on the security that we are providing to the government of Nigeria and how they are deploying their assets.
“We can also share information and intelligence. We can talk about counterterrorism. And so those are the tools that we are primarily looking at in our strategy,” Pratt replied the congresswoman.
Jayapal pressed him further, asking why these tools were not the first response instead of public threats.
Pratt maintained that the State Department had been working on long-term security efforts and that updates to their approach were intended to strengthen results.
Jayapal said she preferred a steady, strategic plan rather than what she described as Trump’s aggressive and impulsive threats online.
“I just wish we would actually stick to that playbook rather than a bully and threaten of a country that is extremely important to us and to the region,” Jayapal said.
“I don’t think that’s the right way to go, to just go on Truth Social and threaten ‘guns-a-blazing’. I think what you’ve described is much more appropriate.”
Another congresswoman, Sara Jacobs, also condemned Trump’s military threats, calling them irresponsible.
Jacobs reminded the hearing that Congress had not authorised the use of force and that taking military action without Nigeria’s consent would violate international law.
Both lawmakers urged a more thoughtful, collaborative approach to addressing insecurity in Nigeria rather than escalating tensions with dramatic rhetoric.
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