US President Donald Trump has threatened to freeze aid to Nigeria and take military action unless its government stops what he’s called the killing of “very large numbers” of Christians by jihadists.

Allegations of

Christians being persecuted in the West African country

have been floating around right-wing circles in the US for years and Mr Trump amplified these claims during his first term in office, too.

His latest comments about

a possible intervention

mark an escalation of the rhetoric.

Nigeria, a nation of about 230 million people roughly split between a Muslim north and Christian south, does face formidable security challenges. 

Jihadist groups have wreaked havoc across the northeast, bombing and raiding villages, towns and military bases, and killing thousands; criminal gangs have turned kidnapping for ransom into a thriving industry, seizing victims from roadsides, schools and hospitals; herders and grain farmers have warred over access to land and water; and pirates have targeted vessels off the coast, disrupting shipping and trade. 

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has denied that any religious group is being singled out.

Nigeria suffers from severe inequality.

While it is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers and is rich in minerals, the extraction of these materials has mainly benefited a tiny political elite.

Competition for scarce resources such as water and land, as well as the proliferation of armed criminal gangs, have driven much of the ethnic and poli...