Rapper Nicki Minaj speaks at UN

Pop star and rapper Nicki Minaj spoke at the United Nations on an unexpected topic: Persecuted Christians in Nigeria.

Living in fear?

Minaj spoke on Nov. 18 at an event held by the United States Embassy to the UN, near the UN, but not in the UN itself.

In her appearance, she spoke out on behalf of “persecuted Christians” in Nigeria, saying that Nigerian Christians were being targeted, driven from their homes, and killed, as quoted by DW.

Minaj also said churches were being burnt down, with whole communities living in fear.

Guns-a-blazing

She has echoed similar claims made by supporters of the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump, who has threatened military intervention in the west African country over his claims of persecution.

Trump has blamed the violence on “Islamist terrorists” and said that if Nigeria’s government continued to allow the killing of Christians, he would send troops “guns-a-blazing”.

Violence, sectarianism, but not religious

Nigerian leaders, as well as leaders in the African Union, have rejected such claims, but perhaps not in the way one might expect.

Rather than trying to say that there were no issues in the country, they instead said that violence in Nigeria was affecting all communities.

Nigeria is a country of about 220 million, about 80 per cent of the population size of Indonesia, whose population consists of several hundred different ethnic groups.

The country’s population is split roughly evenly between Muslims and Christians.

BBC quoted the Nigerian government as saying that terrorists attacked not Christians in particular, but any who did not share their ideology, which included “Muslims, Christians, and those of no faith alike”.

The BBC further reports that violence is often over resources like land or water, or over ethnicity, rather than religion.

Uniting humanity?

Minaj is known for her outspoken personality, her provocative lyrics, and her committed fans.

The rapper is of Trinidadian origin, and appears to have no direct connection to Nigeria.

She said during her speech that she did not intend to take sides or divide people, instead her goal was that of "uniting humanity".

Her alignment with the Trump administration on this has been welcomed, hence the invitation to speak at the event.

That alignment was not always the case, having previously criticised the previous iteration of the administration for its conduct towards immigrants, particularly the separation of children from parents.

Top image via @usun/X