Nigeria Is In Desperate Need of Prayer.

Christians watch their families burned alive in Nigeria.

Trump rhetoric prompts fears that military intervention could further destabilise a country racked by bloodshed.

Adrian Blomfield. Kieran Kelly

Related Topics

• Nigeria, 
• Africa, 
• Christianity, 
• Religion, 
• Donald Trump

03 November 2025 8:15pm 

The killers, as they so often do, descended under cover of darkness, the sound of their arrival masked by falling rain. Most residents of Yelewata, a Christian farming village in central Nigeria’s Benue state, were still asleep – until the first gunshots rang out.

Those who could fled into the surrounding bush. Others, trapped, squatted silently in the village church, school and market stalls, holding their breath as the attackers hunted their prey, shooting or hacking to death anyone they found.

Their hiding places proved no match for the gunmen’s murderous intent. The assailants set the buildings ablaze, burning alive the men, women and children praying for deliverance within.

At least 100 died in the massacre at Yelewata in early June, according to Amnesty International. Others said the toll was twice as high. The slaughter quickly drew the attention of campaigners for Nigeria’s Christians, who have suffered repeated violence in Benue and elsewhere.

Pope Leo offered prayers. For some on the Republican Right in the United States, it was further evidence that Nigeria’s Christians were facing “genocide”. 

In September, Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials “who facilitate violence against Christians” and to designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern”, a label reserved for states that have tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

Over the weekend, Donald Trump dramatically escalated the rhetoric, ordering the Pentagon to plan potential military action in Nigeria and threatening to “go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing’” if its government failed to protect Christians.“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria,” he told reporters. “They’re killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”Mr Trump gave no indication of what kind of action he has in mind, but Pete Hegseth, his defence secretary, declared that “the department of war was preparing for action: Either the Nigerian government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”.Nigerian officials, country experts and Western diplomats suspect the threats amount to bluster. But they warn that far from protecting Christians, any US military action would risk deepening Nigeria’s religious divides. By focusing narrowly on faith, they argue, Washington risks misreading a crisis with many interlocking causes. DT.