U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz praised rap superstar Nicki Minaj for using her platform to “spotlight” the persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.
Waltz responded to a post on X from Eric Cortellessa — a senior political correspondent with TIME, in which Cortellessa revealed that Waltz and Minaj would “deliver remarks early this week on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.” In response to Cortellessa’s post, Waltz described Minaj as “not only arguably the greatest female recording artist,” but a “principled individual who refuses to remain silent” when injustices are occurring.
“I’m grateful she’s leveraging her massive platform to spotlight the atrocities against Christians in Nigeria, and I look forward to standing with her as we discuss the steps the President and his administration are taking to end the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters,” Waltz wrote.
In response to Waltz’s post, Minaj expressed that she is “grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude.”
“Ambassador, I am so grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude,” Minaj wrote in her post. “I do not take it for granted. It means more than you know.”
Minaj praised President Donald Trump after he issued a statement that he was “making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN,’” in response to “thousands of Christians” being killed by radical Islamists.
“Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump wrote in his post at the end of October. “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!”
In a post on X, Minaj shared a screenshot of Trump’s post and wrote, “Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other.”
After Minaj thanked the Trump administration “for taking this seriously,” and also shared that reading Trump’s post made her “feel a deep sense of gratitude,” Waltz extended an invitation for her to speak with him on what the administration “is doing to protect Christians’ freedoms all over the world.” In response, Minaj said she would “be honored” to speak with Waltz.
Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Maitama Tuggar issued a statement to Newsweek in response to Trump’s post about the “mass slaughter” of Christians, clarifying that “there is no genocide, now or ever, in Nigeria.”
“For the avoidance of any doubt, and out of respect for all the victims and survivors around the world of this unique and appalling crime against humanity, let the record show that there is no genocide, now or ever, in Nigeria,” Tuggar explained.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim, has described claims that Christians in Nigeria are being religiously persecuted as “a lie from the pit of hell.”
Breitbart News’s Frances Martel reported that Nigerian Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu admitted that Trump “told the truth” in his Truth Social post calling out the “genocide of Christians” in Nigeria. However, Kalu stated that whether people are Christians or Muslims, “Nigerians” in general are being killed:
The senator’s comments are notable as Trump’s condemnation, and his announcement that he would blacklist Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for religious persecution, unleashed a torrent of denial that systematic violence to displace Christians and impose Islam in the country was happening. Tinubu himself flatly denied that any “religious intolerance,” much less a genocide, existed in his country last week, while Nigeria’s most prominent Muslim organization denied that any Muslims in the country were engaging in violence against Christians.
“If it’s a lie, then the answer is that it’s not a lie because he said the truth,” Kalu said, according to the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard, referring to Trump’s comments. “Nigerians are being killed, whether they are Christians or Muslims.”
“There are jihadists who just want to destroy Nigeria. We should blacklist them without pity so that they will be smoked out,” he urged.
Breitbart News also reported that “Nigerian newspapers have revealed the government threatening Christians with arrest if they report attacks by Islamic terrorists and opening fire on Christians on at least one occasion during a peaceful protest.”
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