i'm not clear where trump is going with this. the nigerian security forces could use some us help, but they have also have a history of doing america's dirty work. the chinese have their own interests here, but they don't walk in with soldiers. i guess this is the reality in today's world - the chinese want to buy things, and the americans want to steal them. it's two different phases of capitalist development, with america increasingly collapsing back into mercantilism.
there are bad actors in nigeria, certainly. the government itself is relatively docile. they're not going to react like saddam hussein. they probably won't even fight at all.
but, given that truth, why not just take it? it's free.
the next step is a proxy war, but i guess that's inevitable, isn't it?
i wouldn't concern yourself with nonsense about protecting christians, although there are certainly bad guys there to kill, and i wouldn't shed a tear over it. but, i'd like to hear more about it before i make a decision about it. on it's face, the nigerian government does not seem as though it should be dismantled, but, rather, the docile nature of the government might make the resources too easy to avoid stealing, and then you need to ask if it's better them than us, if it's going to get stolen, anyways.
there's a lot of wars in africa all of the time and it's been that way for decades. there's a reason for it. it's not likely to change.