TRUMP’S THREAT OF INVASION AND THE NEED FOR A MORE DIGNIFYING RESPONSE
— Maiwada Dammallam
“Africa has come of age. It’s no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or to mar. For too long have we been kicked around: for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly.��“For too long has it been presumed that the African needs outside ‘experts’ to tell him who are his friends and who are his enemies. The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves; that we know our own interests and how to protect those interests; that we are capable of resolving African problems without presumptuous lessons in ideological dangers which, more often than not, have no relevance for us, nor for the problem at hand.” — Late Gen. Murtala Mohammed 11/01/76
The trending topic at the moment is President Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN” — a make-belief concern he warned could earn Nigeria his swift reaction to “save christians.” This Trump intends to achieve by stopping all aid and assistance to Nigeria before graduating to a Rambo-kind of a “guns-a-blazing” invasion to wipe out “Islamic terrorists.”
More than my concern about Trump’s threat to invade Nigeria on the pretext of hunting for “Islamic terrorists” to save Nigerian Christians is a bigger concern for the absolute disregard of Nigeria’s sovereignty by the global disaster Trump is mutating into by the day.
Take it or leave it, there’s nothing like Christian genocide (or any brand at that) as alleged by President Trump. It’s a mere case of calling a dog a bad name to hang it (for the bone in its mouth). Trump’s concern about the welfare and safety of Christians in Nigeria or elsewhere is the biggest joke of the century. Trump is not even a Sunday-Christian. He’s at best a Christmas Day-Christian whose allegiance to christianity is more of political convenience than spiritual obligation.
To followers of the unfolding intercontinental political drama, the disdain with which President Donald Trump desecrated the sovereignty of Nigeria; reducing it to somewhat a county of the USA, is unmissable even if cowardly overlooked and or downplayed by those positioned to react properly to his crooked perceptions and intuitions with which he calculated the sovereignty of Nigeria. If anything, this is the existential threat facing Nigeria viz-a-viz Trump’s tantrums.
It’s irritating watching the frenzy of embarrassing attempts to deny or validate Trump’s phantom verdict of a christian genocide in Nigeria especially from high quarters; needlessly intended to convince Trump not to invade Nigeria. It got me thinking. Will Trump, high on whatever substance he’s abusing in the White House, dare threaten to invade Iran if actually there’s an ongoing genocide against christians in Iran? The answer is a big NO! Iran is nobody’s pushover as the US and Israel will confirm any day. As they say: “Evun a mad pesin sabi de house of de pesin wey get koboko.”
Trump lives with the clearest understanding that the safety and welfare of the entire global christian community from the beginning of time to date is not worth messing with Iran. That’s for one simple reason. Iran, despite all odds and huddles, has confirmed its sovereignty and its ability and willingness to protect itself against any bully — even those of Trump’s size and recklessness. Losing out to Iran in this global ranking index is what should worry Nigerians.
POTUS Trump misplaced concern for the safety and welfare of Nigerian Christians is perhaps the bizarrest hypocrisy of all times. With his approval and support, thousands of lives, mostly women and children, are still being mercilessly annihilated in Gaza either by American-subsidized Israeli soldiers or by outrageously inhuman sanctions approved and mostly enforced by Trump. Who’s Trump trying to fool with his fake concern about Nigerian Christians? By the way, isn’t this the same Trump who couldn’t keep schools and shopping malls safe in cities of the USA?
Personally, instead of trying to debunk Trump’s allegation of an ongoing christian genocide in Nigeria, I will rather have him guns-a-blazing; spewing bullets and missiles in Nigeria than submit to his 21st century expansionist proclivity and or desperate search for a garbage bin to upload his Mamdani and Ghazala frustrations.
In any case, USA is always known to be averse to facts and logics when it comes to its socio-political and economic proclivity for global subjugation. It reduced Iraq to rubbles on a phantom search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) it alleged Saddam Hussain has amassed. To date, the only WMD discovered in Iraq are those deployed by the USA to pulverize the once stable and flourishing Iraq. USA in cahoots with NATO also shredded Libya on similar phantom charges. The list is endless. USA is everywhere on the pretext of trying to “liberate” phantom victims of imaginary social imbalances when in reality the parasitic Uncle Sam is only looking for blood to feast on.
Adopting christian’s welfare and safety as a ploy by Trump shouldn’t surprise anybody though. He returned to office with a clear script to be the 21st century Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan rolled in one. He it was that during his inaugural address on January 20, 2025, stated that during his second presidency, USA would expand its territory, which was in keeping with his pre-inaugural remarks about annexing the territory of other nations. Canada had to flex muscle to discourage his contemptuous, erratic and undiplomatic impulses.
Trump may not be aiming to annex Nigeria as he fantasized about annexing Canada in the early days of his presidency. The geographical impossibility of doing so is obvious but we shouldn’t rule out a more convenient idea of recolonizing Nigeria as a strategy to sustain USA’s ambition for global economic and political dominance while keeping pace with the fast evolving global political drama which the USA is losing grip of thanks to POTUS’s contemptuous disregard to diplomatic boundaries and a lethal mixture of poor estimation of USA’s limitations in a fast evolving global socio-political and economic scenario which is unmasking the USA for what it is.
Make no mistake about it, Trump’s threat is not about the persecution of christians in Nigeria or even the real problem of insecurity in the country which, by the way, has nothing to do with the country’s ethnic or religious complexities. Nobody in Nigeria is being persecuted on the basis of ethnic or religious identity in the manner pushing Trump towards another misadventure like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan etc. Trump will invade the Vatican if it suits his whims and or if it aligns with his idea of political and economic propulsion in favor of the USA.
President Trump couldn’t be hunting christians of all nations like rabbits on the streets of major cities of USA to ship back to their “shit holes” only to deploy troops, apply economic sanctions and withdraw aid and assistance to these “shit holes” as a supposed show of concern against persecutions in the “shit holes,”could he? This presidential gangsterism masked as global policing must be stopped and the only way to do so is for countries like Nigeria to adopt methods like Iran’s — methods of self-discovery and establishing self-dignity.
Trump’s concern for Nigerian christians is nothing more than mere optics; a ploy to get the buy-in and support of the global christian community to sustain his policy of dominance. It’s his stock in trade.
During his first term, President Donald Trump spoke boldly of religious freedom. At the UN in 2019, for instance, he said, “As president, protecting religious freedom is one of my highest priorities and always has been. … No matter the case, America will always be a voice for victims of religious persecution everywhere. No matter where you go, you have a place in the United States of America.”
Now in his second term, Trump has created the White House Faith Office to “protect religious liberty” and a Justice Department task force to combat anti-Christian discrimination. “We will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares,” said Trump when announcing the measure. However, when it comes to helping Christians fleeing persecution abroad, Trump said no more—for now.
On his first day as president, he signed an executive order to suspend the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), barring potentially thousands of Christian refugees from entering the United States. One is left wondering how much of these lies from Trump must the world swallow before he set the globe on fire?
Truth is, there’s nothing like persecution of christians in Nigeria but a simple case of criminality being perpetrated against both innocent Muslims and Christians by criminally minded Christians and Muslims. Forget the lies of outcasts like former SGF Babachir (of the grass cutting infamy) who seemed convince that the only way to re-invent themselves after a disgraceful outing is by playing the religious card while commercializing the problems of the country. I don’t blame them though. Tolerating such nonsense instead of dealing with it seem to be the first rule in Nigeria’s book of leadership.
Insecurity in Nigeria is insensitive to tribe and religion. Looking at the problem from the perspective of one religion persecuting another is certainly a wrong way to go. Just as thousands of christians were killed over the years, so were thousands of muslims senselessly massacred over the years in indifferent theaters of conflicts.
At the peak of its rampage, we saw videos of Boko Haram insurgents slaughtering innocent muslims like chickens in the most barbaric manner imaginable. The ancient city of Kano is perhaps the most populous concentration of muslims in Nigeria. We can still recall how Boko Haram reduced Kano city to perhaps the most dangerous city of the world of that time; with Boko Haram bombs exploding in major mosques of the city, killing thousands of innocent muslims and maiming others.
The story is eerily identical in Kaduna, Zaria, Sokoto and Bauchi. Forget about Damaturu and Maiduguri where kids learned how to distinguish the sizes and impacts of bombs and IEDs by their sounds while their parents learned which mosque to attend by sizes and locations. This is an unimaginable atrocity by muslims against muslims. Carcasses of mosques in these areas still lies around as a proof of the prolonged madness muslims went through in the hands of their fellow muslims. This is the northwestern and northeastern part of Nigeria; home to muslims constituting majority of Nigerians.
Going to the north-central part of Nigeria, Benue State is the state most disturbed by insecurity. There is no single criminal behind insecurity in Benue State, it is a complex issue involving multiple groups, including suspected armed herdsmen, local militias, and other armed bandits. The insecurity is fueled by farmer-herder conflicts, banditry, kidnapping, and other criminal activities, often compounded by local political issues.
Benue State was home to eliminated kingpin Terwase Akwaza, otherwise known as Gana whose atrocities I wrote about severally on this page. At the peak of his reign of terror, Benue State government has to put a bounty on his head; first announcing N5 million reward for information leading to his arrest which was reviewed to N10 million and later re-reviewed to N50 million.
At the height of his notoriety, Akwaza aka Gana, was alleged to be responsible for the killings of about 1,300 innocent lives across Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States. He enjoyed amnesty from former Governor Samuel Ortom only to resurfaced stronger and more deadly. Akwaza was on his way to Katsina-Ala with some traditional rulers, senior clergies and local political leaders to be presented to the state government for another round of amnesty when they were rounded up by the military which took away Gana. He was killed shortly in an “exchange of gunfire while trying to escape.” Gana was a vivid story of an unimaginable atrocity on christians by a christian. He was to the north-central what Boko Haram was to the north-east on a reduced scale.
In Plateau State, it’s too soon to forget the inhuman criminality perpetrated against minority muslims in the state. It’s a Sallah Day which started as day of joy and merriment as traditionally expected. Unbeknown to the muslim community, it was a day loaded with unimaginable and unprecedented terror. It was August 2011, on Sallah day (Eid-el-Fitr) as Muslims were returning from prayers, Christian youths set up roadblocks and attacked them in Gada Biu and Rukuba areas. Reports indicated that at least 30 people were killed, with some bodies burned and many injured. Before the end of the day, the internet was awash with videos of the gory scenes of the victims being butchered, roasted and eaten. It was said that the Sallah Day attack was a reprisal by Christian mob who accused Muslims of spoiling their Christmas Day the previous year by bombing their homes.
In Plateau state, religious, ethnic and economic boundaries tend to coincide. Violence, usually attributed to ethnicity and religion though often rooted in sundry socio-economic disputes has marred the state and its environs for several years. Religious and ethnic communities are increasingly segregated with the practice of “ethnic cleansing” on both sides in formerly mixed areas. Trust between the two major religious and ethnic groups appears to have broken down almost entirely. Plateau State is a clear case of atrocities of criminal-minded christians/muslims against innocent christian/muslims.
The South-East is not spared the rampage of criminals disguised as freedom fighters. The terror unleashed on innocent citizens of the region by IPOB/ESN couldn’t by any imagination be mistaken for any actualization beside criminal. The Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB/ESN senseless killings of majority christians in the south-east while asphyxiating economic activities in the region couldn’t be an Islamic agenda by any yardstick. To achieve what anyway?
Why should any muslim with average intelligence choose to waste energy and resources chasing the Ndi’Igbo in their south-east home turf when the Ndi’Igbo (complete with multi-billion dollar investments) are in every village and city in the muslim-territory. IPOB/ESN couldn’t and shouldn’t be mistaken for muslims just as their agenda couldn’t be seen as anything Islamic by POTUS Trump or anybody at that.
Unless this is a calling a dog a bad name just to hang it, then the point couldn’t be missed that insecurity in Nigeria is a simple matter criminality insensitive to anything other than illicit gains. The bandits killing innocent muslims in the Northwest couldn’t be seen as kidnapping and killing their innocent victims to promote Islam when their victims are 98% muslim dwellers of the northwest. After all, they couldn’t be promoting Islam by invading mosques and killing muslims while praying salat, or could they? Boko Haram in the Northeast is killing just about anything moving on two legs without recourse to subscription to any approved religious ideology.
By which sense, facts or logics could the aforementioned atrocities be seen as genocide by one religious or ethnic group against another in Nigeria?
