The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has said the Nigerian constitution does not allow religious persecution.

Tuggar made this statement on Tuesday at a press conference in Berlin, Germany.

He was reacting to United States President Donald Trump’s threat of military intervention over the killing of Christians in Nigeria.

“It’s impossible for there to be a religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape or form by the government of Nigeria at any level,” he said.

DAILY POST recalls that Trump said on social media over the weekend that he had asked the Pentagon to map out a possible plan of attack because “they’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers”.

However, Tuggar stated that Nigeria has a “constitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law”.

He warned against any attempts to divide Nigeria along religious lines, as he drew parallels with Sudan.

“What we are trying to make the world understand is that we should not create another Sudan.

“We’ve seen what has happened with Sudan with agitations for the partitioning of Sudan based on religion, based on tribal sentiments and you can see the crisis even when the partitioning was done according to religion or according to tribe,” Tuggar said.

Trump has not suggested any division of Nigeria along religious lines but claims that “thousands of Christians are being killed (and) Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter”.

Nigeria has denied that Christians have been targeted by jihadist attacks more than other faiths.

Nigeria’s constitution does not tolerate religious persecution – Foreign Minister Tuggar