US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Photo credit: AP)
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine planned to held a closed-door meeting with Nigeria’s National security adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu at the Pentagon on Thursday evening, amid tensions sparked by President Donald Trump’s threat to send American troops into Nigeria, ABC news reported.This follows Trump’s warning earlier this month that the US could launch swift military action if Nigeria failed to curb attacks on Christians. Trump’s post on his social media platform directed the Pentagon to prepare for potential operations saying “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA 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,” Trump posted on social media. “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!”, a message to which Hegseth publicly replied, “Yes sir” adding “the Department of War is preparing for action.”Independent conflict-monitoring organisations say tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Nigeria in recent years in violence affecting both Christians and Muslims, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Nigeria has rejected Washington’s decision to re-designate it as a “Country of Particular Concern” over alleged religious-freedom violations, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu saying the characterisation “does not reflect our national reality.”Deploying US ground troops to Nigeria would pose major logistical and political hurdles, given the country’s vast terrain, porous borders and expected public resistance. The US has around 6,500 military personnel across Africa, but no permanent troop presence in Nigeria. Drone operations in the region have also become harder after the US was forced to vacate key counterterrorism bases in neighbouring Niger following a military coup, officials earlier noted.A senior State Department official told CNN the ‘high-level’ Nigerian delegation’s visit had created an opening for “frank conversations,” adding that Washington wanted to help make Nigeria safer “for religious communities of all stripes.”US lawmakers have also pressed Abuja for demonstrable action. Rep. Riley Moore said he had conveyed that the US expected “tangible steps” to prevent violence against Christian communities.Sources cited by CNN said Nigeria had shown a greater willingness to work with the US military following Trump’s warning, with US Africa Command prepared to deepen cooperation if requested.With meetings underway both at the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, officials on both sides signalled an urgent effort to prevent the dispute from spiralling into a full-blown crisis.The meeting, confirmed by two defence officials, did not feature on the public schedules of either Hegseth or Caine, and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s visit to the Pentagon was kept closed to the press.