Conspiracy theorists are having a field day in Nigeria and elsewhere after United States President Donald Trump threatened to attack the West African nation.

Trump had claimed, without presenting any evidence, that there was an ongoing Christian genocide in the country and redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”.

Nigerian authorities have consistently denied the genocide claims.

Trump’s threat has divided opinion in the country’s social media space and fuelling conspiracy theories.

Nigeria’s support for Palestine

Many in Nigeria are insisting that the threat of attacks was because Nigeria had decided to speak in support of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine war.

Nigeria is among about 157 countries that recognised Palestine, and the country has done so since November 18, 1988. It has, in recent years, spoken against Israel’s aggression and for a solution that ensures the existence of Palestine as a territory.

Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima told the United Nations General Assembly in September that “people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilization searching for order.”

“That is why we say, without stuttering and without doubt, that a two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine,” Shettima said.

A new round of claims that the Christians were being killed on a genocidal level began days after Shettima’s UNGA speech.

Dangote refinery’s angle

On Saturday morning, a widely circulated WhatsApp message claimed that the United States is angry with Nigeria for halting importation of petrol from its oil marketers.

The West African nation was a major oil importer until the 650,000-barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery began operations in 2024. That has significantly altered the energy landscape in West Africa and Europe and helped strengthen Nigeria’s faltering currency.

More importantly, Dangote began exporting fuel to the US in September.

“‎The first migraine hit when U.S. fuel export numbers started twitching. West Africa, that loyal customer, suddenly said, “No thanks, we’ll refine it at home.” Imagine selling umbrellas in a desert, that’s how America feels right now in the diesel market,” the viral WhatsApp message claimed.

“Dangote’s refinery isn’t just refining oil, it’s refining pride, power, and perspective. ‎And for the first time, the biggest gas leak in the room isn’t from Nigeria, it’s from America’s nerves.”

However, data from World Bank’s World Integrated Trade Solution showed that Nigeria imported most of its fuel from Europe, especially from Belgium and the Netherlands, and not the United States,  in the last decade.

Illegal mining theories

Parts of northern Nigeria, where the jihadists have been having their reign of terror since 2009, have some important and expensive natural minerals, including gold and lithium.

Some Nigerians believe that Trump’s threat of attack to ‘liberate’ Christians is a Greek gift.

Some commentators insisted that the attack, if it happens at all, would hand the mining rights of Nigeria’s mineral resources, especially in the northwest, to the United States through the back door.

“After the bombing stops and the Americans move on, the real terrorists who would have hidden in the Sahel countries throughout will come back into what remains of Northern Nigeria and form strongholds and local governments,” Ayo Sogunro, a South Africa-based Nigerian lawyer, wrote on X.

“In a short time, the US govt will unofficially recognise these Muslim warlords as legitimate govts and start collaborating with them for mining and other local resource rights. And the rest of the world will forget all these started with saving Christians and move on.”

Many people in the comment section agreed with him.

Critics of the United States said the country has left almost all the countries it has invaded in the name of liberation in shambles.

“The United States and its allies have a long record of military interventions that leave nations more unstable than before,” Yele Sowore wrote on X. “They failed to secure peace in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or Syria, and they won’t bring salvation to Nigeria through bombs or boots on the ground.”

Illegal mining is commonplace in Nigeria, a scourge Tinubu’s government is trying to rein in through sector reforms. Mining Minister Dele Alake said last month that he has been receiving death threats since he began addressing Nigeria’s mining malfeasance.