The Nigerian government has denied reports making the rounds that President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to travel to the United States for a closed-door meeting with US Vice President J.D. Vance.
In a post shared on his official X handle on Monday, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, dismissed the report and described it as misleading.
The clarification came amid reports that Tinubu was set to travel to Washington for “top-level diplomatic engagements” amid heightened global attention on the alleged genocide of Christians in Nigeria and a recent statement by Trump threatening military actions.
Ajayi stated that the report has fueled speculation and “uninformed commentaries, adding that the President would be meeting with President Donald Trump, not the Vice President, if Tinubu were to visit the White House.
He wrote, “There’s a story that President Tinubu is going to the U.S. on Tuesday to see U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. That story is not true. I can see that the fake news by Sahara has become the basis for some uninformed commentaries since yesterday. If President Tinubu is going to the White House, he won’t be going to see a Vice President.”
Trump, in a post on his Truth account on Saturday, warned that the United States might “go in guns blazing” if the Nigerian government failed to stop the alleged killing of Christians.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians,” he said.
The Nigerian government has since denied the claim, stressing that the President Bola Tinubu-led government is leaving no stone unturned in its ongoing war against terrorism in all nooks and crannies of the country.
In an official statement shared on his X handle, Tinubu maintained that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, emphasising that his administration continues to engage religious leaders across faiths to promote peace and tackle insecurity.
“Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” Tinubu said.
“Since 2023, our administration has maintained an open and active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges that affect citizens across faiths and regions.”
