After US President Donald Trump threatened to go in “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria to “wipe out the Islamic terrorists” who “attack our Cherished Christians”, the African country said it would welcome US help in tackling terrorism as long as its territorial integrity was not violated.“We welcome US assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity,” Daniel Bwala, an adviser to President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters.Trump had posted on Truth Social on Sunday (November 2), “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria”. He said he is “instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action”, and if the US attacks, “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.” Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, responded on X with, “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”Terrorist attacks have been common in Nigeria for years. While these have killed many Christians, most analysts agree the attacks are not specifically targetting Christians alone. What is the conflict in Nigeria about, and why is Trump suddenly talking about going there “guns-a-blazing”? We explain.Trump designates Nigeria ‘Country of Particular Concern’Days before the Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump had announced on the same platform that the US was designating Nigeria ‘a country of particular concern’, a label he had assigned to the African nation in his first term too, but which was lifted by Joe Biden.According to the US State department, “Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the President is required to annually review the status of religious freedom in every country in the world and designate each country the government of which has engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).”This designation can open the doors for sanctions on a country, and for curtailing US aid to it. The other countries so designated, as of December 29, 2023, are Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.Story continues below this adAmerican aid to Nigeria is not insignificant. In September, the US approved $32.5 million in assistance to tackle hunger in the country. In August 2024, the US mission in Nigeria said the nation “would receive $27 million as part of a larger $536 million humanitarian aid package from the U.S. Government to Sub-Saharan Africa.”Who is fighting whom in Nigeria?Mainly, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) are fighting the Nigerian State, and anyone else they deem is not the right kind of Muslim. This includes Christians but also other Muslims, especially Shias. These terror groups are mainly based in North-east Nigeria, where Muslims are concentrated, while Christians are concentrated in southern Nigeria.In central Nigeria, herder and farmer communities clash over access to resources like pasture land and water. The herders are generally Muslims and the farmers Christians.As the AP reported, “Data collected by the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data program shows 20,409 deaths from 11,862 attacks against civilians in Nigeria between January 2020 and this September. Of those, 385 attacks were “targeted events against Christians … where Christian identity of the victim was a reported factor,” resulting in 317 deaths.” The ACLED data show 417 deaths recorded among Muslims in 196 attacks in the same period.Story continues below this adBoko Haram was founded in 2002. It wants to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Nigeria and to take the country away from “corrupting” Western influence. It is notorious for attacking institutions imparting a “western” education. Boko Haram hit headlines globally in 2014 after it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state, sparking the international Bring Back Our Girls campaign. Eleven years on, more than 50 of those girls have still not been found.The name ‘Boko Haram’ roughly translates to ‘western education’ or ‘western values’ are ‘haram’ (something to be shunned).Many analysts also see an economic angle and the fallouts of colonialism in the violence in Nigeria. Nigeria gained freedom from the British in 1960. The colonial masters left behind a legacy of deepened communal faultlines, inequality, and an education system enforced top-down, where north Nigeria was disadvantaged. Inequality is still very high in Nigeria.Nigeria is among the largest economies in Africa, and crucially, the continent’s biggest oil producer. It is home to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Africa’s largest. On November 1, Dangote said it would ramp up protection, as Nigeria tries to cut down oil imports.What can Trump do in Nigeria?Story continues below this adWhile that is difficult to say, Trump has generally opposed US involvement in “other people’s wars” and sought to position himself as a peacemaker. If the US military were to carry out targetted strikes within Nigeria, they would have to zero in on small targets in a large swathe of territory.This will be complicated by the fact that the US pulled out of its base in Niger, Nigeria’s neighbour, last year. This base was used by the US to keep an eye on Islamic terror in Africa’s Sahel region, but had to be vacated after a change of guard in the Niger in 2024 which did not welcome American presence.