Rap megastar Nicki Minaj praised President Donald Trump for “prioritizing” the issue of the persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria, and thanked him for his “leadership on the global stage” in calling for action on this issue.
While speaking at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Minaj thanked Waltz for extending an invitation for her to speak. Waltz’s invitation for Minaj to meet with him to discuss the persecution of Christians in Nigeria came after she praised Trump for intervening and taking the “mass slaughter” and persecution of Christians in Nigeria seriously.
“It is an honor to stand on this stage with you and the other distinguished speakers here today to shine a spotlight on the deadly threat faced by thousands of Christians in Nigeria,” Minaj said. “I would like to thank President Trump for prioritizing this issue, and for his leadership on the global stage and calling for urgent action to defend Christians in Nigeria, to combat extremism, and to bring a stop to violence against those who simply want to exercise their natural right to freedom of religion or belief.”
Minaj said she felt a “deep sense of gratitude” that Americans were able to “live in a country where we can freely and safely worship God, regardless of one’s creed, background, or politics.”
“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion — like I recent stated on social media,” Minaj added. “And, we don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other. We’re way beyond thinking, or expecting, or assuming for the person sitting next to you to have the exact same beliefs. We’re beyond that.”
In a Truth Social post from October 31, Trump designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), and expressed that Christianity was “facing an existential threat in Nigeria.”
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump wrote in his post at the time. “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!”
In response to Trump’s post, Minaj shared that reading his post made her feel “a deep sense of gratitude” to be able to live in a nation where people can “freely worship God.”
“Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously,” Minaj added.
While Nigerian government officials such as Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Maitama Tuggar have denied that there is a genocide against Christians taking place in Nigeria, Nigerian Senator Orji Uzor Kalu said Trump “told the truth” when he called out the genocide of Christians taking place in the country.
Breitbart News’s Frances Martel reported:
Kalu agreed with comments by President Bola Tinubu and others that Christians were not the only victims of massacres and displacements in the country, but identified the assailants as “jihadists” seeking to “destroy Nigeria,” contrary to claims by the Tinubu government that general “instability” driven by “climate change” is to blame for the killing.
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.”
During a public address on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV spoke about how Christians in places such as Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) faced “deadly violence directly due to their decision to follow Jesus Christ.”
“I think especially of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan, and other countries from which we frequently hear to attacks on communities and place of worship,” the Pope said, adding that “God is a merciful Father who desires peace among all His children.”
Read the full article here