Nigerian Christians Respond To US Strike Targeting Terrorists

 

BY INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

Once again, there was a Christmas Day attack in Nigeria. Only this time, the jihadists themselves were targets. This is because the operation, carried out in northwestern Nigeria’s Sokoto state, was undertaken by the U.S. military in coordination with Nigerian authorities.

Indeed, there has been a vast and ongoing slaughter of Christians in Nigeria. And undoubtedly, many think the U.S. should go in “guns-a-blazing” or, at the very least, lay down some crippling economic sanctions.

While this viewpoint is understandable given the extent of atrocity and impunity, the situation is more complicated for many millions of Nigerian Christians who would have to continue living in their country long after the last foreign military strike.

“Truly, we wish we could handle this ourselves,” said “Daniel,” a Catholic in Nigeria’s Middle Belt whose name we changed to protect his identity. But he acknowledged that the authorities in his country, for whatever reasons, have not yet come close to meeting the challenge effectively.

In Daniel’s view, up to 90% of the attacks on Christians in his country are religiously motivated. And citing a recent massacre not far from his home, he said that President Trump’s “concern to assist the people in our region is good news to our region, and we want it as quickly as possible.”

Emmanuel Ochayi, a Christian pastor based in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, said that he has observed a variety of reactions to President Trump’s position on Nigeria.

“A significant number of Nigerian Christians welcome international attention,” said Ochayi, adding that many Nigerian Christians, particularly in rural communities, have “felt unheard and invisible” and that “their suffering does not receive the urgency it deserves.”

The flip side, as Ochayi related, is that “there is also genuine concern among many Christians that overt Western intervention could complicate matters.”

Ochayi believes that much, if not the majority, of year-round violence against Christians in his country “has a strong religious or ideological component, even when attackers frame [it] as land disputes or banditry.” At the same time, though, he described Nigeria’s security challenges as “deeply layered.”

He expressed his concern that “framing the crisis too narrowly in religious terms, especially by foreign powers, could inflame tensions between Christians and Muslims and harden extremist narratives.”

As tempting as it is for many people to bring marauding jihadists to fiery justice, the possibility exists that military strikes initiated by a foreign power could lead more people to Islamic extremism and its ever-present justifications for violence.

Even economic sanctions, if they are not sufficiently targeted, could pose severe problems: Many millions of Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, are already eking out a hand-to-mouth existence. Using sanctions as a blunt-force instrument could make their lives even more precarious.

And, as Ochayi pointed out, there is also the issue of “historical sensitivity to foreign involvement,” considering the nature of Africa’s colonial past.

Foreign intervention does not necessarily have to entail military intervention. It could also take the forms of “diplomatic pressure, human rights monitoring, and urging the Nigerian government to act decisively and impartially in protecting all citizens regardless of religion or ethnicity,” Ochayi said.

“What most Nigerian Christians I know desire is not external control, but responsible engagement,” Ochayi said. “They want the international community to support justice, good governance, intelligence sharing, humanitarian relief, and institutional reform — while respecting Nigeria’s sovereignty.”

The Christmas Day strike on jihadists was not a complete surprise. A report from mid-December 2025 said that the Nigerian government had given the U.S. permission to undertake strikes from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on terrorist groups, and that U.S. aircraft had carried out surveillance runs over jihadist strongholds.

“Andrew,” a Christian from northern Nigeria living in the U.K., said the majority of Christians he knows were encouraged by the Christmas Day strike on jihadists.

“I think they will stop attacking Christians if the strike is not just a one-off event,” said Andrew, who believes that “having more of such strikes against the jihadists will go a long way in preventing future attacks” against Christians.

Andrew said most Christians in his region “absolutely want Western intervention.” When asked about the possibility of Western intervention making things worse, he contended the situation was already appalling enough, pointing out that many people in his region have already seen friends and family members “beheaded like chickens” or witnessed “houses set ablaze with the family members all inside.”

“These are not just mere scenarios or fictions. Real people had to go through these things, and a lot are still going through them,” Andrew said, adding that his country’s government “seems to work better when they are under intense pressure.”

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE