On Saturday, Nov. 1, U.S. President Donald Trump via his Truth Social platform announced that he had told the Department of War to "prepare for possible action" against Nigeria's government in order to stop "the killing of Christians."

Trump added several strokes of internet vitriol theatrics. The U.S. military should go into Nigeria "guns-a-blazing" in order to "completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities ... If we attack," Trump wrote, "it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!"

A bluff? Possibly. Emphatic and unfiltered verbal diplomacy by an information-savvy leader calling attention to a genocide global media all but ignores? Definitely.

The Truth Social post followed an Oct. 31 official statement in which the president said he would designate Nigeria "a country of particular concern" for permitting the persecution of Christians. In 2020, the State Department designated Nigeria a "country of particular concern" for "systematic violations of religious freedom" — but the designation did not specify Christians. In 2023, the Biden administration lifted the designation.

Trump's castigations — both in official statements and social media attacks — spotlight mass murder a responsible government cannot allow. Trump signals that intent with his Nov. 1 all caps last sentence telling the Nigerian government to stop the slaughter FAST.

So Trump fumes with a purpose. But he does have a stick. The Nigerian government and everyone with an iota of awareness knows he is the one international leader with the strategic naval, marine, air and airborne forces that could actually launch a major military attack into Nigeria. It isn't going to happen, but it could.

Trump wants the Nigerian government to conclude that he just might be riled and enraged enough to 1) order the Navy to send an amphibious assault task force to the Nigerian sea coast; 2) order the Army to alert the 82nd Airborne Division; and 3) tell the Air Force to ready its C-17 transports and prep some B-52s just in case.

Will Trump's diplomatic threats prompt the Nigerian government to stop the attacks on Nigeria's Christian tribes?

Earlier this year, the Nigerian government rejected accusations that Christians were the primary targets of attacks by Islamists like the notorious Boko Haram terrorist group and well-armed criminal gangs operating in the area. Nigeria contends the anti-government armed groups (sectarian and criminal) have primarily targeted villages in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north.

The majority of the attacks do occur in the north — but that is the region where Muslim fanatics seek to impose Sharia (Islamic) law on non-Muslims. In the last four years, somewhere between 55,000 and 60,000 Nigerian Christians have been murdered in what the Nigerian government calls religious and ethnic clashes. The government contends the Christian death toll is exaggerated but U.S. Christian groups claim it is accurate, and the attacks are unabated.

Boko Haram has been killing for well over a decade. Remember the Chibok schoolgirls, seized by Boko Haram in a raid in April 2014? The Obama administration made it a cause celebre, with the T witter social media hashtag, "#bringbackourgirls." As of 2024, 82 of the girls were still missing. Reportedly, some of the girls were sold as slaves.

Ethnic clashes in Africa means tribal warfare. In Nigeria, the northern Fulani and Hausa tribes are predominantly Muslim. The southern Ibo tribe(Igbo) is predominantly Christian. The Biafra War (1967-1970) was a civil war pitting Ibo-led secessionists against the Nigerian central government. The death toll from that war — killed by violence or starvation — may have exceeded 2 million.

The Islamist murders in Nigeria touch terrible history. The 10th Parallel north, as it cuts across the African continent, crudely divides Muslim northern Africa from Christian and animist southern Africa. In Uganda in 2002, I heard a Ugandan call it Africa's "green line," with green denoting Islam. He said for a millennium, Muslim imperialists had pushed south with two objectives, conversion and enslavement. In east Africa, Arab Muslims were running African slaving operations in the early 20th century.

It's time Nigeria stopped the slaughter and slaving.

To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Emmanuel Ikwuegbu at Unsplash