Religion is a very volatile issue in Nigeria and United States President, Donald Trump might have inadvertently triggered off a new source of dispute between Christians and Muslims in the country.

He made the following comments at the Oval Office where he held talks with President Muhammadu Buhari.

“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,” Trump said.

However, in his opening statement at the Rose Garden press conference, he stated:

“We are deeply concerned by religious violence in Nigeria, including the burning of churches and the killing and persecution of Christians,” he pointed out.

“We encourage Nigeria and the federal, state and local leaders to do everything in their power to immediately secure the affected communities and to protect innocent civilians of all faiths, including Muslims and including Christians.”

This provides more insight into the United States position about the violence in Nigeria and shows it is not taking an anti-Muslim stance when it comes to the violence ravaging the country.

Therefore, it is important that Nigerians focus on our common security than engage in unnecessary squabbles over what Trump said about one religious group or the other.