Trump’s Bold Move: Designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern Sparks Controversy

By Newsmax Wires | Monday, 03 November 2025 08:45 PM EST
Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., on Monday praised President Donald Trump on Newsmax for doing what he called “the Lord’s work” to stop what he described as a genocide of Christians in Nigeria.
Moore told “Rob Schmitt Tonight” that Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” marks a crucial step toward confronting radical Islamist violence that has killed tens of thousands of Christians.
Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social: “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. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action.”
“In President Trump’s previous post to that, he designated, which is what I had been calling for and asking for, Nigeria as a country of particular concern,” Moore said.
“Why that’s important is because it unlocks a lot of diplomatic levers for the president in terms of restricting assistance, sanctioning individuals, and also restrictions and prohibitions on arms transfers and security assistance just writ large,” Moore added.
In that post, Trump wrote: “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ — But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria [3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide], something must be done! I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter, and report back to me. The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”
Moore noted that at least 7,000 Christians have been “martyred” in Nigeria this year alone, calling the killings a continuation of persecution that has claimed between 50,000 and 100,000 lives since 2009.
“Our brothers and sisters in Christ [are being] murdered in cold blood,” Moore said.
“The president is doing the Lord’s work here, God bless him, I’m so happy and thrilled that he’s actually standing up for Christians who are losing their lives to Islamic terrorists and this terrible situation.”