Originally published in Israel365News
US President Donald Trump’s blunt warnings and redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern have jolted the Nigerian government into action, finally curbing the relentless slaughter of Christians by jihadist groups that have operated with near-total impunity for years.
Rev Akinyele Abiodun James, district overseer of Foursquare Church and leader of the Evangelical Fellowship in Nigeria, told The Jerusalem Post that the US pressure has delivered measurable change where local appeals failed. For too long, Boko Haram, Lakurawa terrorists, and Fulani herdsmen militias have raped, abducted, murdered, and displaced thousands of believers across northern Nigeria, turning villages into graveyards and churches into charred ruins.
What happens when justice finally has teeth?
The numbers tell a grim story. In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 Chibok schoolgirls — 91 remain missing or in captivity a decade later. Recent months brought fresh horrors: over 50 murdered and women abducted in Zamfara state, 34 killed in a single Lakurawa attack in Kebbi state. Entire Christian communities pay Sharia taxes under terrorist occupation, face educational discrimination blocking youth from scholarships, and endure propaganda branding them outsiders in their homeland. Rev. James described coordinated ethnic-religious assaults and the dangerous reintegration of “repentant” Boko Haram fighters into security forces under previous administrations.
CPC redesignation forces real accountability
Trump’s move revives his first-term policy, scrapped in 2021 but restored with sharper focus. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs hailed it as a binding “directive,” with Chairman Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) stressing that government complicity enabled decades of genocide-level violence. A joint congressional report—drawn from hearings, delegations to Nigeria, and expert testimony—lays out concrete demands: targeted sanctions, visa bans on perpetrators, repeal of blasphemy laws that greenlight mob lynchings, and trade restrictions to disarm Fulani herdsmen. Around 200 US military advisers now operate in-country, and security aid ties directly to protecting vulnerable populations. Israel has quietly provided intelligence and counterterrorism support, recognising the shared fight against radical Islam.
On-the-ground testimony confirms shift
Rev James spoke plainly from Nigeria via Zoom. “Until the recent threat from the United States,” he said, “the question we asked was, who are the people killing communities?” He credits President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for showing proactive effort in recent months—bolder raids, arrests of known killers, and public condemnations that once never came. “Without his administration’s intervention,” James stated, “it would have been a worse situation. Nigeria would have been a very, very terrible situation.” The change is not theoretical; believers report breathing easier as the tide of unchecked terror begins to turn.
Rare prosecution as herdsmen charged over massacre
Christian Daily International reports that In a rare prosecution in Nigeria, nine Fulani herdsmen are on trial for their role in the massacre of more than 200 Christians in Yelwata, Benue state last year, as the US administration is considering a bilateral agreement to combat persecution.
The Fulanis, including the head of the neighbouring Nasarawa state chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, face a 57-count charge in connection with the June 13-14 massacre in Yelwata, according to Sahara Reporters. The Miyetti Allah association is a Fulani herder advocacy group that has been accused of organizing and financing terrorist attacks on predominantly Christian villages.
The head of Miyetti Allah in Nasarawa state, Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono, and eight other Fulani tribal leaders pleaded not guilty to the charges in the trial that began in early February, according to Sahara Reporters. US-based, Nigerian attorney Frank Utoo told outlet Truth Nigeria that Dono, a resident of the Nasarawa state capital Lafia, was the leader of the massacre.
The rare attempt to prosecute herdsmen attacks comes as the US administration considers proposing a bilateral agreement with Nigeria as recommended in a report prepared by Rep. Riley Moore and others. President Trump assigned Moore and Rep Tom Cole to assess persecution of Christians in Nigeria and present the report.
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