When President Trump went public last month about the potential for US military action in Nigeria to stop what he called the “mass slaughter” of Christians, it created an international media storm. Claims that the persecution of Christians was so severe it could be described as “genocide” were immediately countered by the Nigerian government. The Tinubu administration was further alarmed by Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern” — a classification denoting severe violations of religious freedom. The government’s protests against Trump’s characterisation of the country’s religious freedom record came at a time when the media both in Nigeria and internationally, as well as security experts and academics, downplayed reports of Christian persecution. All insisted this was not a religious war, and many went so far as to claim religion played only a negligible part in the violence.