World


Christian Slaughter Tests Trump’s Promise to Act


White House considers sanctions, military action to curb kidnappings by Muslim terrorists.


I BY SUSAN CRABTREE


n the early hours of nov. 16, gunmen attacked a girls’ boarding school in northwestern Nigeria, kidnapping 25 girls, many of them


Christian. The attack killed the school’s vice


principal, Malam Hassan Makaku, who tried to block the door to the girls’ dor- mitory with his body. The assault on the school took more


than 20 minutes and failed to prompt any intervention from government security forces located at a checkpoint not far from the school. Six days later, 303 boys and girls,


ranging in age from 10 to 18, were abducted from a Nigerian Catholic school. Twelve teachers were also taken by gunmen. Pope Leo said he was “deeply sad-


dened to learn of the kidnapping,” mentioning not only Nigeria, but also Cameroon, where six Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of Bamenda were kidnapped in Ndop, Cameroon. In October, President Donald Trump


had vowed to stop the slaughter of Nige- rian Christians, whom Muslim terror- ist groups, including Boko Haram and Fulani militants, the Islamic State of West Africa Province, as well as armed bandits, have targeted and slaughtered by the thousands in recent years. The latest abduction of the girls


served as a reminder of former first lady Michelle Obama’s failed hashtag cam- paign to rescue 276 mostly Christian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014. A decade later, 82 of the girls


52 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2026


remain missing, and a United Nations investigation found that only 37% of schools across Nigeria have any warn- ing system to detect threats of violence and armed attacks. United Nations ambassador Mike


Waltz and religious freedom advocates have called for the Nigerian govern- ment to do more to halt the burning of churches, beheadings of pastors, and the kidnapping of girls to become sex slaves. Entire villages, Waltz said, wake to


gunfire because “they dare to commit the crime of calling Jesus their Lord, [and] people go to jail under blasphemy laws for simply wearing a cross.” Christians make up nearly half of


Nigeria’s population of 200 million, but they are the victims of most of the attacks. The World Index of Christian Perse-


cution says Nigeria is the most danger- ous place in the world to be a Christian — 89% of Christian killings throughout the world took place there over the last several years. The Biden administration attributed


the slaughter not to religious persecu- tion but to a conflict over resources exacerbated by cli- mate change. Most groups involved


believe the conflict isn’t just religious in nature but also involves conflicts over power and control over land and resources because Christians own most of the farms. An estimated 20,000 peo-


back on the narrative that the slaughter of Christians is primarily religious per- secution. According to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, the root causes are “social” rather than fully religious. The Trump administration rejects


that assessment, arguing it’s a war on Christians by Muslim extremist groups. What can Trump do about it? The president, in a late October


Truth Social post, vowed U.S. military action if the Nigerian government fails to take immediate action. Such a development, if it involved


sending U.S. troops into Nigeria, would likely not only anger Trump’s isolation- ist MAGA base, but could prove ineffec- tive in such lawless regions. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu,


who is Muslim, wants non-military assistance from the U.S. “to deepen cooperation and protection of commu- nities of all faiths.” A senior State Department official


said there is a “whole suite of options” the administration is considering, including serious economic sanctions. One major problem is the flow of firearms to Nigeria’s law- less regions and corrupt local governors, some of whom are in league with extremists. Many of those firearms,


TINUBU


ple were kidnapped between 2019 and 2023. Roaming bandits target people who will pay ransoms, and they’ve learned that Christians and religious leaders respond with higher payments than others. For these reasons, some groups, including the Vatican, have pushed


the source said, are from Arab states, including Saudi Arabia. Critics in Washing- ton want the White House to pressure the Saudis to


stop the sales. Meanwhile, the State Department is


reviewing all U.S. aid to Nigeria, includ- ing security cooperation and humani- tarian and economic assistance.


Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.


TON MOLINA/GETTY IMAGES


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108