United States Ambassador Mike Waltz has extended an invitation to American rapper Nicki Minaj to visit the US Embassy to the United Nations in New York, following her public support for President Donald Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.”
Ambassador Waltz praised the musician on Saturday for using her platform to highlight issues affecting Christians in Nigeria.
“Thank you for using your platform to speak out in defence of the Christians being persecuted in Nigeria,” Waltz wrote on X. “We cannot allow this to continue. Every brother and sister of Christ must band together and say, ‘Enough!'”
The ambassador added: “If you ever find yourself in New York, come by the US Embassy to the United Nations. I would love to speak with you in more depth about what our administration is doing to protect Christians’ freedoms all over the world.”
Waltz’s invitation followed Minaj’s response to President Trump’s announcement declaring Nigeria a country requiring urgent attention regarding religious freedom.
Trump, in a statement on his Truth Social platform, claimed that Christianity faced an “existential threat” in Nigeria, citing killings of Christians by what he described as radical groups.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical groups are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern,'” the president wrote.
Trump went further to warn that the United States could suspend assistance to Nigeria and consider military intervention if the violence continued.
“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,” he stated.
He added: “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.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rejected Trump’s comments, describing them as unnecessary whilst urging calm. The Nigerian leader maintained that his government remained capable of managing the country’s internal security affairs.
Minaj, responding to Trump’s declaration on X on Saturday, expressed appreciation for what she termed a stand on freedom of worship.
“Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. No group should ever be attacked for practising their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other,” the rapper wrote.
She continued: “Numerous countries around the world are being affected by this horror, and it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to The President and his team for taking this seriously. God bless every affected Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.”
The designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” places it amongst nations identified by the United States as having governments that engage in or tolerate systematic violations of religious freedom.
