Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described how the Trump administration will direct the Department of War to protect Christians in Nigeria facing persecution for their faith.
Speaking during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Hegseth said, “I just want to note one more thing to give you a sense of how committed this president is. Maybe a year ago, he heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by ISIS in Nigeria, and he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians.’”
“Partnerships like that can take time behind the scenes, but he never wavered on it,” he stated, adding, “Over the last month — and there hasn’t been much coverage of this — we killed ISIS’ number two in Nigeria, who is most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland, and have since — because of the intel we gathered — killed hundreds of ISIS members who were targeting and killing Christians in Nigeria, creating a whole new opportunity there.”
“So, there’s a lot of things we do that the media pays attention to, and a lot of things the President empowers the department to do on behalf of the American people that he deserves great credit for,” Hegseth explained.
“Thanks to the investments that you’ve made in this department, firing on all cylinders for the second year in a row, we’re at historic recruitment rates,” he said. “Last year we said that here, this year we beat it even faster. The American people are excited about what you’re bringing to our department.”
The House Appropriations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee delivered a joint report concerning the persecution of Christians in Nigeria in February, finding that it is the “deadliest place in the world to be a Christian.” Investigators from the committees engaged with witnesses, held roundtable discussions, and conducted on-the-ground assessments for the report.
