The United States President, Donald Trump, on Monday described the killing of Christians in Nigeria as a serious problem, saying the US would not accept it.
Trump also condemned the burning of churches and urged the Federal Government to ensure security in the affected communities.
He said the government of the US and that of Nigeria would work hard to resolve the problem.
Trump said this shortly before he entered into a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Oval Office in the White House, Washington DC,Punch reports.
We have met before, we have a great relationship. I look forward to our discussion today again, especially as it relates to terrorism. Terrorism all over the world is a hotbed and we are going to be stopping it.
We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria; We are going to be working on that problem very, very hard because we cannot allow that to happen,” he said.
Trump who said his government had decimated the ISIS over the last 12 months, said Boko Haram had been terrible.
He asked Buhari how he was handling the issue of the abducted Chibok and Dapchi girls.
Buhari said his administration had not given up on the remaining Dapchi girl and the Chibok girls.
The Chibok girls kidnap was before we came; we rescued some of them. The Dapchi girls were 106, we rescued 100, four died, and one is still in captivity. We are very grateful to the United Nations Organisation that is acting as a go-between and is helping out. We have not given up on the last Dapchi girl,” he said.
The President insisted that Libya crisis and Muammar Ghaddafi were responsible for herdsmen killings.
He said, “
The problem of cattle herders is a very long historical problem. Before now, Nigerian herders were known to carry sticks and machetes and cut follies for their animals, but these ones are carrying AK-47.
“So I don’t think we should underrate Libya. During the 43 years of Gaddafi, people were recruited from Sahel and trained to shoot and kill. With the demise of Ghaddafi, they (recruited persons) moved from their country and their region with their training and their weapons and that is what aggravated the situation.
“We are doing our best to stop the cross border movement, but it will take time.
We are happy with the effort of the United States to see the end of ISIS. This has helped us a lot because the Boko Haram in Nigeria had one time made a statement that they belong to ISIS.
“Now that ISIS is virtually gone, we are very happy. We are stabilising the situation in Nigeria.”