Trump’s Crusade to Save Nigerian “Christians”: A Gospel According to Vanity -By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

When President Donald J. Trump thundered recently that he might send American troops to Nigeria to “rescue persecuted Christians,” one could almost hear the angels clearing their throats for the opening hymn of a new Made-in-America Crusade. Only that this time, the Savior is not nailed to a cross—he tweets from a golden throne and preaches deliverance through drone strikes.

Trump’s sudden compassion for Nigerian Christians would have been heartwarming if not for the lingering smell of hypocrisy wafting all the way from Washington to the savannahs of northern Nigeria. The world has seen this script before. America creates chaos, arms fall into the wrong hands, terrorists multiply like weeds after rain—and then the same America returns, halo polished, claiming to be the redeemer.

Let’s rewind to 2011. The “moral” United States, under President Obama, turned Libya from one of Africa’s most stable nations into a sprawling marketplace of mercenaries and misery. The fall of Gaddafi sent truckloads of weapons cascading southward—through Mali, Niger, and Chad—until Boko Haram found itself awash with ammunition and ambition.

When Nigeria sought U.S. help to fight the very monsters that America’s Libyan adventure helped spawn, the Obama administration withheld critical military equipment—because Nigeria had passed an anti-LGBT law. Apparently, America’s moral compass points toward whichever direction its sexual politics lean, not toward genuine peace.

And yet, the same Bible that America loves to quote during campaign season already criminalizes homosexual acts. So one must ask: What “Christian values” can a morally bankrupt America export to a country whose real struggle is survival, not pronouns?

Now enters Trump, the self-anointed Defender of the Faith, claiming he will “save Nigerian Christians.” One might think the man had discovered the Book of Acts last week. But beneath the pious growl of his rhetoric lies a more familiar melody: political opportunism dressed in religious robes.

He speaks of “radical Islamists” not out of compassion, but calculation. His base—American evangelicals—love such talk. It feeds their apocalyptic imagination while securing their votes. It’s the same logic that turned “Make America Great Again” into a creed and Trump into its reluctant messiah.

But how exactly does he plan to “save” these Christians? Will his Marines parachute into Nigerian villages and ask for baptism certificates before opening fire? Or will the Pentagon distribute Bibles with infrared chips that glow red only in Christian hands? Because in Nigeria, Christians and Muslims live side by side, shop at the same markets, and even intermarry. There are no “Christian neighborhoods” to rescue. A Trump raid would be an equal-opportunity slaughter.

Let us be honest: Trump’s concern for Nigeria is not about religion—it’s about regaining America’s shrinking influence in Africa. China is building railways; Russia is signing defense pacts; and the U.S., late to the feast, now arrives waving a blood-stained Bible. Nigeria, rich in oil, gas, and critical minerals like lithium, suddenly looks “spiritually” interesting.

When empires dress greed in the garb of faith, the sermon always ends in ashes.

If the United States truly wished to help Nigeria curb terrorism, it would not send sermons wrapped in missiles. It would:

* Share real-time intelligence on terrorist movements.

* Provide advanced surveillance equipment to locate camps in forests.

* Offer targeted training to Nigerian special forces.

* Help rebuild the communities that terrorism has wrecked.

But those steps do not generate dramatic headlines—or evangelical applause. So, Trump prefers a more cinematic script: “Send the troops, save the Christians, and Make America Feel Righteous Again.”

Trump’s proposed “sweet and fast” raid on Nigeria is not about rescuing anyone. It is about resurrecting himself—a theatrical crusade staged for applause at home, not compassion abroad. The tragedy is that behind his vanity parade lie real human lives: Nigerians of every faith struggling to live beyond the reach of both terrorists and foreign saviors.

So when Trump preaches salvation for Nigerian Christians, let the world remember:

This gospel is not according to Christ—it is according to Trump, chapter Ego, verse Empire.