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Republican Rep. Riley Moore said the United States could take a range of actions — including sanctions and “even kinetic military action” — in response to what he called the “genocide” of Christians in Nigeria.
Trump designated Moore, a member of the Appropriations Committee from West Virginia, along with Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., to lead an investigation into the killing of Christians by Islamist militants in the African nation.
Frustrations with the matter boiled out into the open when Trump this week designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern and ordered the Pentagon to prepare to intervene militarily.
In a video on Truth Social this week, Trump threatened to “do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be happy about” and “go into that now-disgraced country guns-a-blazing.”
I WAS KIDNAPPED BY BOKO HARAM, AND SURVIVED. NO THANKS TO THE WEST’S SILENCE
Nigerians watch funeral procession of victims of a Boko Haram attack in Yobe Nigeria in 2024. (Stringer/Reuters)
Moore told Fox News Digital the designation unlocks “15 different levers” the administration can use against Nigeria, including halting arms sales, freezing aid and sanctioning officials or institutions accused of ignoring or enabling religious killings.
“All options are on the table here for this, even kinetic military action,” Moore said. “That could mean targeted, strategic counterterrorism strikes to get rid of some of the top leadership if that’s what it takes to stop the killing.”
“We’ve been providing security assistance to this country since at least 2009 – billions of dollars worth of arm sales, training and equipment that they’ve received. And it’s a question of prioritization in what’s important to them. And clearly this has not been one of the most important things.”
The West Virginia Republican said he has been working with the House Appropriations Committee and the State Department to identify what he called…
