IN SHORT: In late October 2025, US president Donald Trump claimed that Christianity was facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Weeks later, a “breaking news” report started circulating on Facebook, claiming that Trump had warned that the US military could capture Nigerian president Bola Tinubu in 24 hours. But we found no evidence that Trump ever made such remarks.
“Trump Warns Tinubu: ‘The U.S. Can Capture the Nigerian President Within 24 Hours – Even His Guards Won’t Know’,” reads the headline of a “breaking news” report circulating on Facebook in November 2025.
The report reads, in part:
US President Donald Trump has issued a bold warning to Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declaring that the United States has the capability to capture him alive within 24 hours – without his own security personnel realizing what happened.
In Trump’s words, ‘If America wants to capture the Nigerian president, we can do it within a day – and even his closest guards won’t know until it’s over.’
He went further to remind Nigerians of a previous secret operation, saying, ‘Five years ago, the U.S. military entered Nigerian soil to rescue our citizens held hostage – and the Nigerian army had no idea we were even there. That’s how weak and disorganized their system is.’
The report started circulating after Trump characterised Nigeria as a “country of particular concern”, claiming that radical Islamists were killing thousands of Christians.
A “country of particular concern” is a designation of a nation engaged in severe violations of religious freedom under the US’s International Religious Freedom Act.
In another social media post, Trump accused the Nigerian government of allowing Christian genocide and threatened that US troops could go into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” to “completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”.
Nigerian president Bola Tinubu and his government rejected Trump’s claims, saying the terror attacks also affected Muslims and people of other religions.
The claim also appears here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
Did Trump warn that US troops could capture Tinubu in 24 hours? We checked.
No evidence to support this
The first sign that the report may be false is that no news outlet has reported on it. The US claim of Christian genocide in Nigeria has received wide media coverage. It is unlikely that such a development as Trump warning of US troops capturing the Nigerian president will go unreported.
Trump’s comments on this and other matters were posted on his Truth Social account. We searched his account and found no post related to the claim.
We found no evidence to support the claim that Trump warned that US troops could capture Tinubu in 24 hours.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment