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Nigeria has said it would welcome assistance from the United States in combating Islamist insurgents in the country, provided that its territorial integrity is respected, following remarks by US President Donald Trump who has threatened a possible military action over the alleged persecution of Christians, as reported by Reuters.
Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters on Sunday that Nigeria remains open to cooperation with Washington in the fight against terrorism, downplaying tensions between the two countries. He said that the West African nation does not interpret Trump's remarks literally. "We welcome US assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity," Bwala said, as quoted by the news agency. "I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism," he added. "We don't take it literally, because we know Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria," Bwala further stated, as quoted by Reuters. This remark by the Nigerian President's aide comes days after Trump warned that Washington would stop all aid and assistance to the country if the country fails to act against the killings of Christians. Trump had further warned that the US could go in "guns-a-blazing" if killings of Christians by Islamic terrorists continue, while calling the African nation a "disgraced country". "If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may very well go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing', to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities," the US President said in a post on Truth Social. Trump further instructed the US Department of War to prepare, warning any US attack would be "fast, vicious, and sweet," and told the Nigerian government to "move fast." "I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!" Trump added in his post. According to Reuters, Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has been battling Islamist insurgent groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for over 15 years. The insurgency, primarily concentrated in the country's northeast, has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions. Bwala stressed that the Nigerian government does not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity in its security operations. "Nigeria does not discriminate against any tribe or religion in the fight against insecurity. There is no Christian genocide," he told Reuters. Trump, earlier, had also marked Nigeria as a "country of particular concern" after claiming that Christianity is facing an "existential threat" in the country, while blaming "radical Islamists" for the persecution of the Christian minority in the country and directed two federal lawmakers, Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to look into the issue. Nigerian authorities have denied that allegation of Christians being systematically targeted. Information Minister Mohammed Idris told Fox News that claims of mass persecution were "very misleading", rejecting reports that tens of thousands had been killed. (ANI)
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