Nicki Minaj backs Donald Trump's contested claim Christians being persecuted in Nigeria

The US-based Trinidadian rapper addressed the UN in New York alongside Trump administration officials, making claims that lack evidence.

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"In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted," Minaj said on Tuesday at an event organised by the US, adding: "Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart... simply because of how they pray."

Analysts say that jihadists and other armed groups have waged campaigns of violence that affect all communities in the West African nation, regardless of background or belief.

This week alone, two people were killed in an attack on a church in Kwara, while a group of 25 girls, who the BBC has been told are Muslim, were abducted from a school.

Two of the girls later managed to escape from their abductors. A teacher and a security guard - both Muslim - were also killed in the attack on the secondary school in the north-western Kebbi state.