Ebun Francis |
President Donald Trump on Monday told visiting Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari that the United States will not condone the ongoing killings of Christians across central Nigeria and urged that efforts would be made to end the carnage.
President Trump made the comment while receiving President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House.
Trump said, “We’ve had very serious problems with Christians who have been murdered, killed in Nigeria. We’re going to be working on that problem… because we can’t allow that to happen.”
Hundreds of Nigerians have been killed by suspected herdsmen in Christian-dominated states like Benue and Taraba since January 1. Many of the victims are Christians.
President Buhari in his response, assured his host that something will be done about the situation, which he said, had been amongst the toughest challenges for his government this year.
He also thanked the US government for approving the sale of military hardware to Nigeria.
Buhari said, “We are even more grateful for the physical presence of the United States military who are training in our institutions and who also go to the front in the northeast to see how they are doing.”
“The commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have first hand experience of that and we are very grateful for it.”
“Chibok girls’ kidnap was before we came. We rescue some of them. The Dapchi girls were 106, we rescued 100 back, four died, one is still in captivity.
We are very grateful to the United Nations organisation that is acting as go-between and is helping out. We have not given up on the Dapchi girl.”
Both leaders also discussed other issues bordering on trade development during the meeting.