Amid threats by President Donald Trump to launch a military operation on Nigerian soil over the alleged genocidal killing of Christians, President Bola Tinubu’s Nigerian government has warned the U.S. against inciting religious and tribal war in the country, drawing parallels with Sudan.

“What we are trying to make the world understand is that we should not create another Sudan,” said foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar at a press conference in Berlin, Germany. “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.”

Mr Tuggar dismissed allegations of Christian persecution, saying Nigeria has a “constitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law”.

“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,” the minister said.