US won’t tolerate killing of Nigerian Christians, Trump tells Buhari

United States President Donald Trump on Monday met with President Muhammadu Buhari, warning that his administration will not tolerate the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Speaking against the backdrop of incessant killings attributed to herdsmen in the country, particularly in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Plateau states, Trump said he will be working on the problem with his guest as the US will not allow the killings to continue.

The US President said: “We have met before, developing a great relationship. We look forward to our discussions today. They are very important, but again, especially as it relates to terrorism. That is terrorism here and terrorism all over the world.

“It’s a hotbed and we are going to be stopping them.

“Also we have had a very serious problem with Christians who are being murdered, killed in Nigeria. We gonna be working on that problem and working on that problem very very hard because we can’t allow that to happen.

“Mr. President thank you for being here, thank you.”

President Trump also raised the question of kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls, Boko Haram and ISIS

He wondered what President Buhari was doing about the kidnapped girls he described the Boko Haram insurgents as a terrible problem.

The US President added: “We have very much decimated ISIS, much has taken place over the last twelve months but Boko Haram has been terrible and how did you do with the young women that were kidnapped? How was that going?”

In his response, Buhari admitted that security was a major issue in Nigeria and thanked the US for agreeing to sell aircraft to the country as well as send instructors to train Nigerian soldiers.

Buhari reiterated his position that the killings in Nigeria were aggravated by the demise of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who he said had trained people who found their ways into the subregion with a weapon and their training.

President Buhari said: “Certainly, security is the main issue. We are very grateful to the United States for agreeing to give us the aircraft we asked for and the spare parts.

“We are even more grateful for the physical presence of the United States military instructors that go into our institutions and train them, and go to the front in the North East to see how they are performing as a result of the training given to them.

“With the commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have had the first-hand experience of that and we are very grateful for it.

“The problem of the cattle rearers and farmers in Nigeria is a very long historical thing. The Nigerian herder never carried anything more than a stick and occasionally a machete to cut down foliage and give it to their animals. These ones are carrying AK 47.


“So, I don’t think people should underrate what happened in Libya. 43 years of Gaddafi, people were recruited from the Sahel, they were thought nothing other than shoot and kill. With the demise of Gadaffi, they moved to their countries and their regions and they carried away with them the only experience they have and training, using weapons. And that is what is aggravating the situation.”

The president reiterated that he was doing his best to ensure the curtailment of the proliferation of small arms even though he said it will take time.

Buhari added: “We are doing our best to ensure that we stop cross-border and so on and to get the proliferation and small arms weapons in the regions checked. But it is going to take time, and the action by the United States in trying to see the end of ISIS has helped us a lot because Boko Haram in Nigeria at one time made a statement that they were loyal to ISIS.

“And now that ISIS has virtually gone with the help of the United States. We are very grateful for that and we are sure that we are stabilizing the situation of security in Nigeria.”

On the kidnapped girls, Buhari assures that his administration would do everything to ensure that those still in Boko Haram’s captivity.

He added: “The Chibok girls (episode) was before we came in 2014. We have only a number of them, we recovered about 30 of them. But the Dapchi ones, they were 106 that were kidnapped, we got 100 back, four died, one is still held in captivity and we are very grateful for the United Nations organization that is acting as go-between us and the kidnappers and haven’t given up. We are trying to get everybody back to join their families and their schools.”