The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Thieves as victims of tankers explosions

    Thieves as victims of tankers explosions

    Life has today become very cheap in Nigeria. If it is not Boko Haram insurgents indiscriminately killing people and abducting young schoolgirls in the northeast, immigrant Fulani terrorists visiting death on subsistence farmers at night and confiscating victims’ sacked villages in the middle belt region, it is Fulani settlers engaged in reprisal killings with their Hausa hosts with whom they have co-existed for close to 200 years in in northwest states of Zamfara and Katsina. And now driven by greed, even those Nigerians who are not under siege are dying in droves while attempting to scoop fuel from overturned tankers.

    Data from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), showed that 1,531 petrol tanker crashes occurred in 2020 alone, claiming 535 lives and injuring 1,142 people while report from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) claims victims often met their untimely death when they rush to the scene of overturned tankers with jerry can to scoop petrol. We also gathered from the same FRSC statistics that  in 2024, at least 411 Nigerians lost their lives while in the last  three months over 300 people have literarily committed suicide while attempting to scoop fuel from overturned fuel tankers.

    Of this figure, about 42 came from an oil tanker explosion which occurred near the Essan and Badeggi communities along the Bida-Agaie road in the Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State, with 52 people with varying degrees of injuries according to Abdullahi Baba Ara, head of the Niger State Emergency Service. Captured within this figure were over 100 bodies of residents recovered from the scene and buried, with most victims burned beyond recognition when a truck carrying about 60,000 litres of petrol overturned near Suleja, also in Niger State. These avoidable deaths continue to occur in spite of several awareness campaigns about the danger of scooping oil from fallen tankers.

    Unfortunately, for some newspapers, TV news anchors and civil society groups, the government, often accused of not paying sufficient attention to bad roads and general infrastructural decay is often the culprit. They often ignore other variables such as deployment of old rickety petrol tankers by NUPENG and PENGASAN and the aggression of the fuel scoopers.  Lanre Issa-Onilu, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency recently revealed how “the police arrived almost 20 minutes before the fire and tried to prevent the people from approaching the product, but the security personnel are often chased away, before the explosion occurred”.

    And precisely because victims are quite aware of the danger is one more reason why many believe Onilu’s recently launched new campaign which brought together traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth and women groups, and security agencies to address the deadly trend is not likely going to stop the recurring explosions and loss of lives which he has associated with poor community leadership and eroded national values.

    We live in an environment where we don’t speak ill of the dead. But much as we feel for those who literarily committed suicide, empathize with those they left behind, there can be no other name for those who are ready to fight  security men trying to stop them from taking what does not belong to them than thieves. And if you are wondering at the source of such audacity, just take a look at our new-breed military-baked politicians who have since the birth of the fourth republic in 1999 behaved like an army of occupation interested only in sharing spoils of war.

    In 2001, claiming they were anxious to recoup their expenses having sold properties to contest election, National Assembly members created artificial fuel scarcity. They stampeded Obasanjo to sign a bill into law which became the instrument PDP politicians and their children used to defraud Nigeria of billions of naira. Under the ill-implemented privatization programme, they sold Nigeria’s total investment of over $100b to themselves at a paltry $1.5b. Under their monetization policy, they sold to themselves properties dating back to pre-independence period.

    I have searched without finding any difference between those who chased away policemen trying to prevent them from taking what they considered as their own share of the national cake and David Mark, who as senate president, bought the senate president mansion and was quick to drag EFCC to court to protect what he believes was his own share of the national cake. Didn’t the fuel scoopers witness how presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan arm-twisted sitting governors and government contractors to raise over N7b each with which they built private presidential library in Abeokuta and recreational centre and church in Otuoke? They have seen their religious leaders receive huge tithes from criminals and our traditional rulers share 5% of LGA allocation without any constitutional role or the policemen shoot drivers who refuse to give them bribe.

    Lastly, those risking their life to scoop fuel from overturned fuel tankers are aware some of the fuels are in any case being ferried illegally across our borders to neighbouring countries. For many impoverished Nigerians, the prospect of getting free fuel is seen as part of their own national cake. As Professor Wande Abimbola, former vice chancellor of University of Ife who was ridiculed for not having a car after serving as majority leader in the senate has observed, Nigerians expected their elected representatives in Abuja to steal funds meant for development and share with their constituency members. As far as he is concerned, most of us are thieves.

    It is just as well Onilu recalled that Tinubu in his speech on January 1 had promised to unveil the National Values Charter for the benefit of all Nigerians. But it has to start with our youths who in spite of opportunities available to them today, have continued to complain of betrayal. It is hard for them to imagine that even in Western Region that guaranteed free education at the primary school level, youths had to go to farm settlement to save enough money to go to Modern School, then Teachers Training Colleges from where many secured their GCE O/ level through correspondence that opened the door to the university if you have a sponsorship or secure a scholarship.

    Read Also: Religion not Nigeria’s crisis, says Soyinka

    Many of our today’s youths who have an opportunity of free education from primary to secondary school in many of the states cannot just imagine what it meant to be youths in the sixties and seventies when poverty struck people directly in the face in most of our rural areas. Yet, that was the period when traders openly displayed their wares by the road side while prospective buyers pick their choice and drop money. Sometimes the sellers may not turn up for over a week to collect their money.

    Since it will be difficult to change the mind-set of our current leaders, the target of President Tinubu’s National Values Charter, should be the youths from primary through secondary school to the university.

    However, as well intentioned as the charter may be, many believe it can only succeed if we first address our crisis of nation-building. Nigeria is a multicultural and heterogeneous society with different groups at different levels of cultural development. No one group can impose its values on the other. The challenge will be how to balance the interest of those who work for a more egalitarian society and those who believe stealing government funds meant for development is not corruption but misapplication of funds – (apology to Augustus Aikhomu).

  • Beyond Trump’s threats

    Beyond Trump’s threats

    Nigeria’s designation as ‘Country of particular Concern’ (CPC) by President Donald Trump of United States of America (USA) and his threat of military action, re-opened the controversy on Christian persecution and genocide which some foreign media platforms had labelled terrorism-induced killings in the country.

    The federal government had while admitting the challenges of insecurity, faulted the attempt to read it from the lenses of religious persecution or genocide. Copious interventions were also made by officials to show that Moslems and Christians are equally targeted and killed by terrorists, to fault the imputation of Christian persecution into the killings.

    In spite of these efforts, Trump penultimate weekend, gave official backing to the narrative, claiming “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria”, even as he held radical Islamists responsible. A few hours later, Trump threatened military action and made good the threat by requesting a war plan from the Department of War. Reports have it that a war plan has already been submitted to him.

    The sequence of Trump’s response to the Nigerian situation must have jolted not a few Nigerians and observers. This could be discerned from the discordant reactions that have since inundated the political space. Not unexpectedly, the implications of threat have been variously interpreted and understood.

    Some saw it as a signal of imminent attack by the US military on Nigerian soil, while others read transactional undertones to the threat. Yet, there were those who were quick to scapegoat on individuals or groups whose activities allegedly aided Trump in reaching his decisions.

    Disingenuous profiling by some commentators of the activities of self-determination groups as the reason for the US action also joined the fray. Suddenly, imprimatur of odious past; where a cartoon in a foreign country considered offensive by religious extremists, was capitalised upon to kill and maim innocent citizens, began to creep in.

    Those who tread this path have a hidden purpose. They thought they were defending the federal government. But beneath this insincere effort, lay the contradictions that brought the country to the current pass. The attempt to pitch one part of the country against others, or hang national misfortunes on the neck of one group or the other has been the greatest undoing of this country. And it will continue to be so unless its enablers are reigned in.

    Such insincere efforts lay barefaced, the fault-lines of our federal order. Ironically, you find in this tendency, the oxygen that sustains citizen’s inability to form consensus on issues of our national being which situations like this demand.

    Even then, issues relating to killings in the country either of Christians or Moslems by terrorists and religious extremists are not hidden. The media space is awash with presentations (documentary or otherwise) from the clergy on their encounters in the senseless killings.

    At any rate, it will be patently mischievous on the part of anybody to live in the deceit that the US State Department has no knowledge of the complexities of the metastasizing insecurity in the country. Not with the prior designation of the country as CPC by the same Trump during his first tenure.

    Not with the sale and delivery to Nigeria of Tucano fighter jets by the US during the last administration to aid the fight against terrorism. The Nigerian pilots that manned those Tucano jets were trained by the US government at Moody Air Force base, Georgia in the US.

    The US works with Nigerian intelligence agencies and the military to enhance intelligence sharing and develop strategies for counter-terrorism. It is inconceivable that the same government could be naïve of the complexities posed by insecurity in the country.

    The situation does not call for scapegoating. Neither is it a time to point accusing fingers on imaginary enemies, political foes. Toeing such lines will end up activating the dialectics that brought about the current pass.

    The situation calls for realism and diplomacy. These cannot be achieved by pushing forward the hackneyed argument that terrorists kill Moslems and Christians as if human life has become a common, easily dispensable commodity. It should offend public sensibilities that citizens are killed in those numbers without any end in sight. There is everything wrong in the seeming justification of the killings on the ground that Moslems and Christians are killed.

    Beyond this, Trump’s threat should reawaken our collective consciousness to the existential danger terrorism is. He has issues with the continuing terrorism in the country and the inability of government’s efforts to stem the tide. He may not put boots on the ground, though it is difficult to predict him. He may not even attack the terrorists without the cooperation of our military given the difficulty associated with asymmetric warfare. If the target is to conclusively defeat the terrorists, it will take careful planning and execution in conjunction with the Nigerian military.

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    So, the value of threat lies more in focussing world attention to the recurring killings in the country by religious fundamentalists pursuing some weird ideology. It is a call on the Nigerian authorities to take drastic measures to eliminate terrorism from our shores. It is a campaign for the dignity of the human life.

    President Tinubu was on this path when in his reaction, he said the characterisation of the country as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality nor does it take into account the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religious beliefs of all Nigerians. He has further promised to eliminate terrorism. That is the direction.

    It must be noted however, that the driving force of the terrorists and their profile is a major issue in the way they are perceived both by the international community and our nationals. In a recent discussion in Al-Jazeera featuring two Nigerians and one foreigner on trump’s threat, the Nigerian participants strove strenuously to counter the narrative of Christian persecution and genocide. As usual, they pointed at the killing of Christians and Moslems to counter such label.

    When asked the drivers of the killings, they fingered religious extremism and developmental issues. They spoke of Boko Haram, Islamic State of West Africa Province, bandits and killer herdsmen.

    Some of these terrorist groups have as their mission, the institution of a theocratic state in the country. They want sharia laws to be the ground norm in a secular state. So, their objectives and targets are not hidden. The fact that there is no official policy in support of their weird doctrinaire does not in any way, diminish their agenda.

    If they have their way, they will enforce their goal on other religious adherents. That they equally kill Moslems who do not share their ideology, does not remove anything from their agenda. That should constrict the potency of the argument about killing Christians and Moslems as guise for playing down the consuming danger.

  • Who killed Dele Giwa?

    Who killed Dele Giwa?

     Yakubu Mohammed presented his autobiography, Beyond Expectations, last week at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos.

    It was attended by top men of the media, including Aremo Segun Osoba, Tola Adeniyi, Soji Akinrinade. But two things stood out of the event. One was a revelation, and the other was virtual silence. The revelation to many was that Yakubu Mohammed was the man behind the formation of the magazine of his generation, Newswatch.

     He it was who provided the initial investor and funding, and set in motion a magazine that must go down in history as one of the consequential acts in Nigerian history. Not Dele Giwa, not Ray Ekpu, not Dan Agbese did that.

    It is a testament to Mohammed’s good grace and humility that he allowed himself to play a lower role as a managing editor while Giwa became chief executive and editor in chief and Ekpu to be the second in control.

    Read Also: UPDATED: NSCIA faults Trump’s designation of Nigeria as ‘country of Particular concern’

    The other revelation was silence. In his book, he made three claims that have raised some questions. One, that the military should not be accused of killing the media icon. The common belief is that it was the IBB regime that did. He had been quoted as saying of the letter bomb that shattered him, “This must be from the president.”

     Major Debo Bashorun in his book, Honour For Sale, rooted his troubles with the IBB regime to his knowledge of his killers in the regime.

    Two, that magazine was sleuthing for who killed Gloria Okon. It was curious subject in those days. Nduka Obaigbena’s colourful Thisweek magazine even did a cover: Gloria Okon: Dead or alive.  Three, was Gani Fawehinmi the magazine’s lawyer?

    Although The Nigerian Tribune’s Lasisi Olagunju gave us an erudite review, he glanced at these concerns. For a news man, the presentation left me with an appetite.

     A year after Giwa’s death, Ekpu assigned me to interview media chiefs for a cover piece, Remembering Dele Giwa.

    That seems all we can do right now.

  • Who is a patriot?

    Who is a patriot?

    Birthdays often provide moments for self-reflection, especially landmark ones. It has become a tradition here to step back from the bouquets and fanfare and capture it as a rostrum to rue, either on society or the cliché: the state of the nation.

    This is so especially when the toast is well-known as it was last week with Reuben Abati, folksy columnist and television host on Arise Television.

    The highlights of Abati’s 60th birthday event at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) were not the celebrity presences like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, or Abati’s former boss President Goodluck Jonathan, or the royal fathers, or the royalty of the media.

    They were two speeches. One from Louis Odion, a master penman. The other was from our cleric of ideas, Bishop Matthew Kukah, who would later spar with Obj over which Matthew enjoyed superior mandate from heaven.

    With episcopal effrontery, the Matthew who never wore a cassock boasted he would predate the bishop to the bosom of the Lord.

    At that moment, Leadership Newspaper editor-in-chief, Azu Ishiekwene, Lagos State Information Commissioner Gbenga Omotoso and I waited in vain for the Owu chief to exact his revenge on Odion’s onslaught on him.

    Odion had reviewed three book offerings that compiled Abati’s writings over the decades. During that fest, Odion took a swipe at Obj for presiding over a gangster election – my words.

    For dramatic effect, Odion merely acknowledged as a sort of grudging apology that Obj “is here.” It was mea culpa as gentle bullying. He did not dilute his umbrage or acidic releases.

    But Odion’s was an unrequited attack. The old fox probably was either disarmed, beaten insensible or did not want to headline Abati’s day with his boxer’s theatrics. It was a play without a climax.

    Bishop Kukah presented a lecture he called, Time to Reload. It was longer than the time allocated.

    But this essayist got hold of the full speech. Kukah spoke off the cuff but he has the knack to speak as though reading from a text.

    One error, though. In dissecting an idea, he mixed up Rousseau for Thomas Hobbes when he x-rayed the leviathan. No matter. What caught my attention was his reference to the idea of myths.

    Nigeria needs a myth. What he said drew me back to an essay I wrote as an editor in The Concord Newspaper, and I asserted that we did not have founding fathers. We had independence fighters, and the three major personages of that era, Zik, Awo and Bello, were not really founding fathers of Nigeria but men who were tied to their tribes. We never had a founding myth, so we could not get a founding father.

    That explains, in part, why we had a civil war, and when it ended, the nation is still haunted by the schism of those years. Awo knew that when he asserted that Nigeria was a mere geographical expression.

    My editor-in-chief, Dr. Doyin Abiola stopped the press when she read it and my piece was yanked off the newspaper.

    But the fault lines of today’s Nigeria, as Kukah noted, remain the incubi of tribe and faith, and the elites continue to take advantage of them to pursue private interests. It is what Professor Claude Ake called the privatization of the public square.

    Each of the tribes in Nigeria has a founding myth, or some form of narrative or illusion of the soul. The Yoruba, for instance, has the Oduduwa tale. The Hausa has the Bayajida. The exploits of Uthman Dan Fodio energise the Fulani. All the other ethnic groups have places or stories that tie them to their histories and stir their heritages.

    The British came and corralled everyone inside one room and gave them a name and asked us to live in peace. They gave a law that was not ours.

    They gave us a language that was not ours. They gave ties and shirts as they did to all their “subjects,” and that was part of the complaints of the Negritude movements that Aime Casaire tore apart when he wrote about ties that suffocated him.

    The irony is that the British have their own origin stories, and they tended to foist them on us in their paternalist arrogance.

    Theirs was rooted in the Magna Carta that draws from the 10 commandments. All over Europe, from France to Denmark to Netherlands, the nations cherish stories that encapsulate ballads, heroes, wars that enchant their spirits.

     In the United States, theirs began with their war of independence, and big names likes Ben Franklin, Samuel and John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, et al, marshaled a martial gusto that ripened into an ethos of being. They call it American dream, manifest destiny, etc.

     We have that problem because it is at the bottom of our definition of Nigerian. Who is a Nigerian patriot? Do we have any? Maybe in sports. Maybe it is the spirit from which we can nurture a Nigerian myth. Today, especially in the past few years, we have seen the nation, where even otherwise intelligent minds have foreclosed any attempt to be open-minded because of where they were born and the God that consecrated them at birth.

    We see otherwise prescient fellows act as though data don’t matter, and they are ready, for the sake of argument, to prioritise anecdotes over evidence. Today, we can see what is going on. We see clerics who cannot understand why they say a word even if that means to save their country. We have a conspiracy of silence.

    It is sometimes argued, especially by the Marxists, that man must live by bread first. But history has shown time and again, that while bread matters, humans generally prefer to starve in order to pray. People have never fought a major war for bread. Bread is a factor, but it is often not the definitive one. We fight for our kins, for our belief, our history, our temples.

    We shed blood for bloodlines, not for breadlines. We never fight for a loaf of bread. When have elections that really matter ever been determined by the pocket? Even in the west, they often claim that bread and butter take precedence.

    But that is because their questions of world view are not at stake. Today, Europe and the North America are in the throes of questions of philosophical meaning. Hence, they are picking apart interlopers of their myths.

    That is, foreigners. In his Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad described the western avatars as, “messengers of the might within the land, bearers of the spark from the sacred fire.”

    That explains why a cleric here would kowtow to a new birth of Christian colonialism and they would listen to their pastor masters in the U.S.

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     Hence one of them would be talking about a hundred days or 90 days ultimatum and remember that he is a relation. He did not remember to say he was a relation during the election in the firestorm of so-called Muslim-Muslim ticket.

    But are evangelicals’ conspiracy of silence a matter of fealty to bread, or loyalty to the Holy Spirit. Or is someone mixing bread for the word?

    That is why it is difficult to be a Nigerian patriot. We have myths of faith just as we have myths of tribe. In the years of the Reformation in Europe, all the faiths pledged to the Bible, but they wove battles out of interpretive feuds. Is the herdsman in Benue looking at the Idoma nubile as a prey or a Nigerian? If he believes in the Nigerian family, will he take over a kin’s farm with machetes and guns?

    The Nigerian myth is only possible if we start to do the impossible: teach children the Nigerian heritage. There is a lot of it. In the years of Lee Kwan Yu, it was done. The Chinese did not look to China, but Singapore.

    The Malays did not look to Malaysia but Singapore. The Indians did not look to India. They are all Singaporeans first. It was not about bread. It was the Singaporean spirit. The Americans came from different countries in Europe. They did not pledge Italian, or English or Irish or German. They brew a new one for themselves.

    It begins by history lessons skewed for that purpose. Our politicians must also de-emphasise idols that divide us.

    The June 12 imbroglio was rooted in it. Our clerics who have lost their voices except to throw up deadlines should remember that even Apostle Paul was proud to call himself a Roman citizen, which gave him a right to fair trial and exemption from scourging.

    The argument that democracy does not cohere with multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies underestimates the human capacity to invent as we have seen in Singapore.

     Bishop Kukah reported a survey about countries who still loved democracy. A plural society India came tops in favour. Although Bishop Kukah says it is time to reload, I believe it is time to reinvent.                                       

  • China’s Xi Jinping, Trump and Taiwan

    China’s Xi Jinping, Trump and Taiwan

    Two Thursdays ago, United States President Donald Trump met briefly with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea to discuss and diffuse US-China trade tensions. It was not clear what else they discussed other than trade issues. But speaking on a US television programme, “60 Minutes” on CBS last Sunday, he offered a perspective on the contentious China-Taiwan relations. Despite not discussing the long-standing disagreement between the two Asian countries, in which China still lays claim to Taiwan and was disposed to swallowing it by force, Mr Trump said he was sure China would not attack Taiwan during his presidency. To him, that assurance, which he claimed Mr Xi gave him, was sufficient. It must be noted that the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act obligates the US to provide Taiwan with the resources to defend itself in the event of an attack by China.

    Sometime in the future it will be clear whether indeed Mr Xi gave such assurances, or whether in fact the matter was discussed at all. If the issue was not discussed, as Mr Trump claimed on television, how then were the assurances given? Assuming the assurances were really given, it is striking how the US president said it was issued. Hear him: “He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences.” His response to the CBS question undoubtedly underscores his megalomaniacal posturing. The issue may not have been discussed, but Mr Trump was satisfied that at different fora, Mr Xi and other Chinese officials gave commitment to holding back because they feared the mercurial US president.

    Narcissistic leaders are often so self-absorbed that they fail to realise how they sound, or what their responses connote. As far as Mr Trump is concerned, it was okay for him and his ego that if China would attack Taiwan, it should at least not happen during his presidency. He showed no commitment whatever to reviewing the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act or of lending his vaunted gargantuan weight to secure a long-term accommodation with China on the sore topic of Taiwan’s sovereignty. There is a biblical parallel for this extreme and destructive self-centredness. In Isaiah 39, the Prophet Isaiah visited King Hezekiah of Judah on God’s order, and the following dialogue ensued, including the context:

    39 At that time [a]Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

    3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

    So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.”

    4 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

    So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

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    5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. 7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

    8 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”

    It has been conjectured that King Hezekiah felt there was nothing he could do to reverse God’s divine will, or that he simply lacked leadership perspective, or that he was too wearied by the illness he suffered to fight another spiritual battle, particularly for the next generation. Whatever was on his mind, it seemed abundantly evident that he simply lacked the character of a great leader. The next generations always mattered to a great leader, whether of a country or of a business, or even of a political party. Mr Trump is a mirror copy of King Hezekiah. For anyone who doubts the abysmal level the US president has sunk, including those who suggest that his actions and policies simply reflect the dynamics of the American society, his statement on what might happen to Taiwan after he was gone is a reminder and a confirmation of who he is at bottom. Mr Trump is unreflective, instinctive, self-centred, and simply incapable of complex reasoning. Unlike King Hezekiah (716-687 BC) who would die 100 years before the foretold exile in 586 BC, it won’t be long before dire consequences come rushing at Mr Trump. They are inescapable.

    And who would not notice how seemingly deferential Mr Trump was to President Xi at the South Korean meeting? His boasting and muscle flexing came only after the meeting, on a US television programme. He could talk down on small Greenland, threatening to annex it, bomb boats in Venezuelan waters in defiance of international law, and cocked a snook at Canada which he coveted on behalf of the US. But to the iconoclastic and defiant North Korea armed with nuclear weapons, Cuba, China and Russia, he would never dare. It’s the nature of brutes and bullies – traits exemplified by Mr Trump’s narrow-mindedness on Taiwan – to know their limits. But on this subject, Nigeria is befuddled.

  • PDP’s relentless decay

    PDP’s relentless decay

    Every time an analyst thought it could not get worse for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ill-fated party dredged up more shocking details about its structural atrophy. The party began to decay when former vice president Atiku Abubakar cajoled it into gifting him the nomination for the 2023 presidential election. Then it began to fracture awkwardly into about three or four parts when it refused to restructure its zoning arrangement post-nomination. After the inevitable electoral loss, the party became so dispirited that it forgot how to dress its wounds to trigger the healing process. The party hierarchy never regained stability after that epochal falling-out.

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    Fast forward to today. Believing that once it managed to conduct an elective convention, the healing balm would materialise, it tried to force itself into an arrangement that would conduce to that healing by producing a consensus chairmanship candidate. Instead, through the litigation of a faction, it was slammed with a Federal High Court, Abuja, judgement that forbade the convention. An appeal might do some good here, right? Yes, in a rational party. But the main faction simply countered with a court order, not a judgement, from Oyo State where the convention was billed to hold on November 15-16. It didn’t make legal sense, but the discomfited party was at this point past caring what anyone thought.

    The PDP and a few other opposition parties have now worked themselves up to a point where they argue that the ruling and ‘omnipotent’ All Progressives Congress (APC) is behind their ordeal. And they believe their own lies. The last opportunity to revivify their party is, however, closing. It is now feared that as they decay, they may lack the men and ideas to redeem themselves or reclaim their once dominant position in the polity. 

  • Letter to President Donald Trump

    Letter to President Donald Trump

    • Nigeria has security issue, not genocidal one

    My dear President,

    At the risk of sounding patronizing, even though it is not exactly so, let me start by telling you that I am not an average Nigerian because an average Nigerian does not see anything good in your presidency. They never gave you any chances in the last American presidential election. That was not my problem and is still not my problem. And I made that clear right from the outset. As a matter of fact, I will quote part of what I wrote in my column in The Nation Newspaper of November 10, last year, titled ”Weep not for America”, so you will know that I am not your enemy; so I deserve your attention.     

    ” Unlike many Nigerians, I was not in any way excited about the just-concluded presidential election in the United States of America, right from the beginning. I knew that many of us in this part of the world anticipated a Camara Harris victory. I also knew that many of us would weep louder than the bereaved if Donald Trump eventually triumphed. In our minds’ eye, including many of the pollsters in America, Trump could never have won. I don’t blame such people, after all, it is said that people see what they want to see.

    ”Now that the election has been won and lost, many of us are not happy with the result. I can understand if Americans are sad. But what is our own…

    ”Democracy is about numbers. In terms of both the popular votes and the Electoral College, Trump, the Republican Party candidate, clearly trumped our favourite Harris of the Democratic Party. With 74,333,299 popular votes (50.7 per cent), he defeated Harris who had 69,857,510 (47.7 per cent). And, in terms of the Electoral College, Trump had 295, 25 more than the required 270, while Harris had 226. This was clear shellacking.”

    That was me speaking in November, last year.

    I still believe in what I said back then. People should weep for their own country; not that they should feel sad that Americans elected wrongly, when democracy is a game of numbers. And, as I said in subsequent paragraphs in that piece, even if your election was a mistake, that should be the business of the Americans.

    I needed to go this far to convince you that I am not necessarily an enemy. What I am therefore going to say is not coming from a biased mind, whether against Your Excellency or for the Nigerian government.

    I can see you have a secretary of war (formerly secretary of defence until Trump redesignated the office) in Pete Hegseth, who is ready to deploy troops to Nigeria for the purpose of killing bandits and terrorists who are, according to you, killing Christians in Nigeria. In other words, you are accusing the Nigerian government of genocide against Christians.

    Let me say that you took your eyes to the market while shopping for the right candidate that fits that designation. You left no one in doubt about your intention: yours is not about defense, it is about war. It would appear that Americans are less bothered about that, otherwise, they should have reacted. And, the way the man talks, one does not need to be told that he is ready to go into action in a twinkle of an eye. Hear some of his statements: The Department of War is preparing for action: either the Nigerian government protects Christians or we will kill the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”.

    This was Hegseth’s statement on November 1, after Your Excellency instructed his department to prepare for potential military intervention in Nigeria. The man has made some other statements that tell me that he is ready to go beyond what you want if only he has the go-ahead.

    At this juncture, Mr President, let me thank you for showing concern about Christians in Nigeria. We Christians cannot thank you enough for this. The snag, this time around is that America is about to be pushed to act based on a misjudgment.

    Your Excellency, I beg to disagree that Christians in Nigeria have been mincemeat for bandits and terrorists because (especially the present) government is not doing enough to protect them. Nothing can be more fallacious.

    I have been a Christian right from my mother’s womb. As a matter of fact, I can’t count how many generations of mine had been Christians. That was why I knew there must be more to it than meets the eye when you threatened to attack Nigeria to protect Christians because of alleged genocide against them. Your Excellency, you must have been roundly misinformed.

    And the Nigerian government has said this much. Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an interview with Al Jazeera on November 2, denied this claim of mass killings of Christians in Nigeria.

    Yes, “We are not proud of the security situation that we are passing through, but to go with the narrative” that only Christians are targeted, “no, it is not true. There is no Christian genocide in Nigeria”, he said.

    “We’ve continuously made our point clear that we acknowledge the fact that there are killings that have taken place in Nigeria, but those killings were not restricted to Christians alone. Muslims are being killed. Traditional worshippers are being killed… The majority is not the Christian population.”

    Several other Nigerian officials, including the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, and Bayo Onanuga, the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, have spoken in the same vein.

    Mr President, if you had talked about insecurity as a Nigerian challenge; there cannot be any doubt about that. And I am sure the government of Nigeria is in any way denying that. But the security issue is sans religion, sans borders, sans tribes, and what have you. The bandits usually come to steal, to kill and to destroy whoever is unfortunate to cross their path.

    Your Excellency, I do not know what your impression of the Tinubu administration is; what I know however is that it is going to be difficult for anyone to suggest you have returned Nigeria to the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) because you do not like Tinubu’s face. I say this because you had in 2020, under the Buhari administration included Nigeria in the list for engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom. This was only lifted by the Biden administration that succeeded you in 2021. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan federal government commission had as far back as 2009 recommended Nigeria for the CPC list!

    Of course, since the issue broke, so many people have been talking as experts on international relations and sundry matters. Some have said America’s military intervention in Nigeria over claims of genocide against Christians is against international law because it touches on Nigeria’s sovereignty. But we all know this cannot be dragged too far. ‎If we say the world is now a global village, it is not only about international network (internet) but also in terms of the effect of what happens in a country on another or other countries.

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    Even the African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also try to influence policies and directions in member-countries. The only difference in the US threat is that Nigeria is not in any such member-state relationship with America. But then, if any religious crisis breaks out in Nigeria, America would be part of the countries to bear the brunt. Even now that there is nothing of the sort, America is home to some 700,000 people of Nigerian descent as per data from 2024 and 2025 reports.

    The truth is, international politics has always been a matter for the strong; the weak are perpetual victims or mere observers of the process. They can only be seen, not heard. And if they must be heard at all, that must be with the approval of the strong. That was why Your Excellency did not approach the United Nations (UN) or any international organisation before declaring that you would hit Nigeria with sanctions and follow it up with military action. All you need to act decisively is your country’s International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Although the CPC designation is largely symbolic, U.S. law states that governments must “take targeted responses to violations of religious freedom.”

    I have seen all manner of figures quoted by various sources as the number of Christians that have been killed by bandits and terrorists in Nigeria but deliberately ignored them because I know many of them cannot be true. If Your Excellency had not tainted your reason for the proposed military action against Nigeria with alleged Christian genocide, may be some of us would have kept quiet.

    But, we cannot afford to in a situation where unverified statistics are being bandied as factual figures in a matter as serious as genocide.  

    I want to believe that those feeding you with these reports about genocide against Christians in Nigeria are either ignorant of the real situation or politicians fighting political battles by some other means. The fact is, the Tinubu administration, just like your humble self’s, has a lot of detractors who would stop at nothing to discredit it. 

    Yes, there are one or two dark spots. Like the case of Deborah Yakubu, a Christian student who was burnt to death in Sokoto State in May 2022 by about 50 of her classmates. They even had the temerity to video their cruelty against a weaker sex and put same on the internet for the world to see their level of barbarism in the 21st Century. It is sad no one was ever punished for that. 

    Then, the Owo, Ondo State Catholic Church killings in the same 2022. The case is not progressing as expected.

    In essence, there are lessons to learn from your threat and I hope the appropriate agencies of government are taking judicial notice of these.

    I want to believe that the Tinubu administration in a space of about 29 months has done far more to eliminate terror leaders than any of its predecessors since the insurgency started in the country about 16 years ago. The big names are all over the public space.

    Your Excellency, let me end this letter by saying that if truly, there is genocide against Christians in Nigeria, and you said you want to come and rescue us; as a Christian from the womb, I would be the first person to jump at the offer. This is not only about patriotism because I have to be alive first to be patriotic. It is about survival. And, as it is said, ”a drowning man would not mind clinging to a serpent for help”.

    But there is no such thing as genocide against Christians. We have insecurity and if Your Excellency has useful assistance for us, I do not think the Federal Government would turn it down.

    Yours faithfully,

    • Adetunji Adegboyega.
  • ‘Professors travel first class’

    ‘Professors travel first class’

    On a cool autumn evening in October 1976, I was in the departure lounge of Heathrow Airport. In my hand luggage was a freshly bound PhD thesis of the Victoria University of Manchester which I had successfully defended a little over a month before. This was the end of a journey which had occupied my mind for just over three years, indeed ever since I landed in that same airport three years before on my way up north, to Manchester, to start my postgraduate studies in Pharmaceutical Microbiology. At the beginning of that course, I was cocky enough not to entertain any fear of failure. After all, I already had a degree from the University of Ife under my belt and was sure that I could rely on the quality of my preparation for my Manchester adventure. And so it proved. That was at a time when all our external examiners were invited from British universities which meant that our degrees were as good, if not better than the degrees awarded in Britain. To tell the truth, I was so relaxed about the whole thing that I was looking forward to the challenge before me. I was also eager to link up with my friend and classmate at Igbobi College, Remi Olatunbosun who at that time had already spent four glorious years in Manchester. With his help, I settled down quickly and was soon hard at work because I wanted to get back home as quickly as possible. That was also because I missed home with an intensity which caught me by the throat and acted as a spur towards the completion of my course. That urge to be done with it was so strong that I did not give any thought to waiting around in Manchester after the defence of my thesis to attend the graduation ceremony which was to take place in December. This was to the evident disappointment of my father who would have loved to have a photograph of his first son in the colourful robes and baggy cap to show the extent of my success which was a reflection of his own.

    On that cool autumn evening, my excitement level was sky high as I waited for the call which was to precede the actual boarding of my plane to Lagos. As I waited for that call, I saw a well suited man who I recognised as a Professor at Ife. To while away the little time I had left on British soil, I went over to engage him in conversation. The quizzical look on his face when I bade him good evening showed that he had no idea who the hell I was so, I quickly introduced myself. I was going to say that I was Mr. Lamikanra when I remembered in the nick of time, that I had earned the right to be addressed as Dr. Lamikanra of the Faculty of Pharmacy and quickly made that correction.

    ‘What has brought you to London?’ I was asked.

    I replied that I was going home having just completed my PhD programme in Manchester.

    The Prof’s eyes lit up behind his glasses when he heard this and he congratulated me very warmly. And he said he looked forward to seeing me in Ife. This happened in the following years but always from some distance. At this point our boarding announcement was heard over the loud speaker and I made my way quickly to my seat on the plane as if there was some danger of being left behind in the rush for takeoff. It was a night flight but I did not sleep a wink throughout. On two or three occasions during the flight, I took a walk up and down the plane and it suddenly occurred to me that the professor had simply vanished because I did not catch any glimpse of him anywhere on the plane but I was too excited to spend any time thinking about that strange disappearance. I even thought that there was a possibility that he was not on the plane at all. But after the plane had landed in Lagos, I caught sight of him waiting for his luggage just as I was about to do.

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    ‘Good morning sir’ I greeted him respectfully.

    His response was warm in the way of an elder to a deserving younger person. I was therefore prompted to tell him that I was wondering where he was during the flight. His response was full of enlightenment.

    ‘Professors travel first class’ I was told. In other words, I had been looking for him in the wrong place. I may have earned the right to be called Doctor but my place was still in economy class! Travelling first class was something I could look forward to when I became a professor, whenever it was that I joined that exalted group of academics. I quickly put that thought out of my mind as that possibility was at that time too lofty for my attention since I was still, at least technically a lowly graduate assistant. Not even a proper lecturer until I had completed the interview which was to be staged on arrival at Ife. Seven years later however that flat statement was thrust into my face at a meeting of the University Appointments and Promotion Committee. By that time, I had become a Senior Lecturer and was representing Congregation on the committee. We had just approved a sabbatical leave for a Professor of Agriculture who was going off to spend his leave outside the country. The first six months of the leave were to be spent in the Philippines and the other six months in the USA. The Head of Department who had come to present the case was gathering his papers preparatory to taking his leave when the Vice Chancellor made a passionate appeal to him.

    He reminded him and the rest of us that the professor was entitled to a first class round trip ticket as a result of the approval that his application had just received. The University finances were however not sufficiently buoyant to give him what in effect was a round the world first class ticket. Could the HOD appeal to the professor to accept an economy class ticket so that there would be money left over to accommodate the application of other deserving members of staff? The Head promised to pass on that passionate appeal to the professor. Come to think of it, I have no idea if the appeal worked or not but knowing the temperament of most academics, I am sure that the professor took that trip in economy class. He must have thought he was taking one for the team. As for me, when I went to Sweden on sabbatical leave two years later, my wife and two children were, in addition to me, furnished with return tickets to Arlanda. That was at a time when there was a fully staffed department within the Registry which dealt with staff travels. So many members of staff were going abroad for various reasons that the members of that department were kept busy all year round. The chilly winds of poverty had just begun blowing ever so gently over the university in 1985 but it was soon to achieve the status of gale force winds. Since then, those harsh winds have swept the academic environment bare of all comforts and the issue of professors travelling first class became the subject of bitter anecdotes a long time ago. So long ago that those presently serving as lecturers in our universities are likely to dismiss it as the result of an overactive imagination. The prevailing reality is that Professors hardly get to travel out of the country at all these days, not to think of travelling first class.

  • Trump declares Nigeria Country of Particular Interest: the predisposing factors

    Trump declares Nigeria Country of Particular Interest: the predisposing factors

    Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria.Thousands of Christians are being killed.  Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern.’

    “But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, are slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria  something must be done! I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter and report back to me.” – President  Donald Trump in a post on his Truth Social.

    Ever rambunctious and irascible, President Donald Trump of America did not just wake up, as if from a bad dream, to declare Nigeria a Country of Particular Interest(CPC).

    Before he did, a slew of  congressmen and other stakeholders had bombarded him with reports of the killings in Nigeria, especially in Christian communities where thousands are, of a truth, being killed, their houses and churches incinerated, those alive banished for ever from their ancestral lands on the pain of death, the names of their lands promptly changed, and Sharia declared.

    All these obviously to the satisfaction of Northern Muslims, most of who are eager to see the whole of Nigeria declared a Muslim country.

    Truth be told, these sundry killers – bandits, Fulani herder terrorists, Boko Haram, ISWAP etc also kill Muslims, but  never as intentionally targeted as their Christians counterparts.

    President Trump was moved to this action by an  appeal from a U.S law maker to the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to take  immediate diplomatic action against Nigeria over what he described as the systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria; a country  he described as the deadliest place in the world for Christians”.

    He called for Nigeria’s re-designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and for the suspension of arms sales to it until the government demonstrates a “tangible commitment” to ending the violence. Citing figures from Open Doors, he claimed that more than 7,000 Christians had been killed in 2025 alone and that at least 19,100 churches have been  destroyed since 2009″.

    How did we get here?

    Let me start off by saying that the U.S action is a massive stricture of the incumbent Nigerian Federal government and  there is a lot President Tinubu can do to both rectify the ugly situation, and   molify President Trump who has shown, severally, that he hasn’t the  slightest respect for international law.

    I have always believed that Nigeria was bound to suffer this embarrassment of being described by President Trump as  a “disgraced country”, but to properly situate that, we would have to go far back, that is, beyond the Tinubu administration, all the way back to that of President Buhari when the entire Nigerian security apparatti was under the  stranglehold of Northern Muslim generals whose primary, but undeclared, interest alongside President  Buhari himself, was to see Sharia  extended over all of Nigeria.

    Buhari and some other significant Northern leaders are on record as saying that fighting Boko Haram is the equivalent of fighting Almighty Allah.

    This reminds me of my article of 17 May, 2020 titled:”Waves and Waves of  Northerners  Coming South Despite Ban on Interstate Travel: What is a  Presidential order now worth”, from which I shall quote at some length in this article.

    I wrote: “Now  with the new massive resurgence of banditry in Katsina,  Kaduna and Zamfara,  he (Professor Ibrahim Gambari, then newly appointed Buhari’s Chief of Staff) should be able to dig deep into both the Boko Haram and banditry conundrum with a view to reaching an agreement which would stanch the ferocious blood letting in the north and put a stop to the billions of dollars the government was wasting but which  could  be put to much better use, especially in the North which accounts for more than 70 percent of the country’s poverty index.

    He should equally devote some time to seriously interrogate the nuisance the Fulani Nationality Movement, (FUNAM) is fast turning to.

    As recent as on  2 May, 2020, that atavistic organisation issued a statement to Northerners who were then being furiously  rushed southwards:

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    “We your leaders held meetings across the key Northern States of Sokoto, Bornu, Katsina,  Kano, Yobe, Kebi, Bauchi and Kaduna. Our resolve is that Northern youths should move, enmasse, to Southern States. Relaunch the mass movement in ways they have never seen … If the towns and cities are hostile,  hang out on the street corners, in uncompleted buildings, occupy the forests, pitch tents, make anywhere available as your abode, your rest places, your home.We urge you to be armed. The infidels may want to attack you”.

    What was that if not a Jihad declaration, eager to dip the bible in the sea as Ahmadu Bello admonished them long time ago?

    That is one of the precursors to President Trump’s threat.

    Then to the issue of the day, a grievous  matter of great national interest, given the way Northerners are being rushed to the South in waves, after waves, even after President Buhari had expressly banned inter-state travel.

    In my view, this indicates that torrid days  are ahead with regard to insecurity in the country as these people could very well be killer herdsmen, elements of Boko Haram/ISWAP soldiers or  outright bandits. They are being moved like consignments of commodities, hidden behind cows or cement, and covered with very heavy tapaulen.

    All these in a country where even the President is preaching social distancing as a means of checking the spread of covid-19.

    That is  the way some evil-minded characters are being transported from the extremities of Northern Nigeria, in blazing sun and inclement weather, over hundreds of kilometers to forment trouble in the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria.

    The hurried manner in which they are being moved point to the fact that the people behind this scheme are up to no good. They are either preparing for a massive uprising in the South or, alternatively, trying to plant an advance party for RUGA which the South rejected, to the last man, and will continue to reject even with the last drop of their blood. Initially coyly presented by the Federal Government as a silver bullet for herders/farmers clashes, RUGA was to have seen Fulani herdsmen as well as elements of Boko Haram, respledently settled in  well – provisioned new towns, carved out from other peoples’ ancestral lands, while the owners of the land would have been left to eke out life in their old, decrepit ways.

    “That this exodus of biblical proportions are being presented to vigilante groups in the South as commodity consignments, is certainly ill- intentioned and the fact that the Inspector General of Police has not  deemed  it fit to say  anything about it, says a lot”.

    God bless the eagle- eyed vigilantes who were not deceived as many of these un-invited guests were immediately turned back where they came from, even though it is certain many of our forests down South may by now be crawling with thousands of  killer herdsmen, elements of Boko Haram etc”.

    That last bit, that is,  their being in our forests,  though conjectural, is a very reasonable supposition, given their battle order from FUNAM, and whoever wants to dispute it must first explain to  Nigerians how,  with the President’s express ban on interstate travel still subsisting , these people  are able to come  down, all the way, from the furtherest corners of the North, without  being stopped by security agents who ought to have felt duty bound to, at least, respect the President’s directive on interstate travels. Of course, Nigerians are no longer  deceived.

    A study by the Chinua Achebe Foundation has long shown that when Fulani herdsmen/ terrorists are to attack in a given  area, directives are usually given from the top, to security  agents, military or whatever, around the target area not to intervene in any manner. They only show up long after the killings.

    It is obvious that this exodus, hidden under the covid-19 lockdown, must be a much bigger project than the well known Fulani herdsmen’s/ terrorists murdering escapades,  but whatever the motive or motives, those behind this project should know that things have  since changed in the South.

    The people have taken their security into their own hands and would respect no orders not to respond in kind if attacked or

     if their ancestral  lands come under any threat. They should know that in  no way would they overrun the South like they did Benue,  Plateau, Borno and some other Northern states.

    Nobody in these parts would live to see total strangers take an inch of their ancestral lands.

    God bless Dr Junaid Mohammed who has honestly called on his Northern brethren who might be behind all these shenanigans to think again . He has suggested that security operatives who collude in this matter should be investigated and those found guilty be  brought to book; but we know that is where it ends because those behind the macabre dance are executing an ethnic and religious agenda to make Nigeria the Fulani homeland as FUNAM has severally asserted, and Nigeria proclaimed a Muslim country.

    FUNAM is never tired of saying Nigeria is the only country Allah gave Fulanis as their homeland.To justify that  joke , a people who arrived Nigeria for the first time ever in the 1800’s, and as tenants of the Hausas,  are now claiming a one thousand year ownership of Nigeria.

    Prof Gambari should be able to let them know their history, in case they have forgotten it.

    One other thing they should know though, is that recent experiences in  Africa, and the world at large, have shown that nobody is too big, important,  or powerful, that cannot find him or herself in a REFUGE CAMP, ESPECIALLY IN A FOREIGN LAND.

    That is where the Trump threat becomes very resonant.

    A stitch in time can still save nine if those behind the spoilation, and ruination, of Christian communities, especially in Northern Nigeria will not desist.

    As to the U.S attacking Nigeria, I trust President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be able to diplomatically, and meaningfully engage  President Trump, to see why the U. S and Nigeria deserve nothing but healthy and cordial relationship.

    But he owes it a duty to peace – loving Nigerians, to first rein in these enemies within, no matter their status or how untouchable they consider themselves.

  • The Christian genocide question in Nigeria: a nuanced examination

    The Christian genocide question in Nigeria: a nuanced examination

    The question of whether Christians in Nigeria are experiencing systematic genocide has become increasingly prominent in international discourse, particularly in Western media and political circles. Such characterization, while capturing the very real suffering of Christian communities in certain regions, requires careful examination to avoid oversimplifying a complex humanitarian crisis that has claimed lives across religious lines.

    Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be reduced to a single narrative of religious persecution. The violence that has plagued the country, particularly in its northern and Middle Belt regions, stems from multiple interlocking crises: the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry in the Northwest, farmer-herder conflicts, and broader governance failures. While it is undeniable that Christians have been targeted in specific incidents, particularly during religious and civil disturbances, the reality on the ground reveals a more troubling picture—one where violence has consumed communities regardless of their faith.

    Since the emergence of Boko Haram in 2009, Muslims have borne an enormous share of casualties. The terrorist group, whose name roughly translates to “Western education is forbidden,” has killed tens of thousands of people, the majority of them Muslims. Towns and villages across Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states—predominantly Muslim areas—have been razed, with entire populations displaced. Mosques have been bombed during Friday prayers, and Islamic scholars who speak against the group’s extremist ideology have been systematically assassinated.

    Similarly, the banditry crisis that has devastated Northwest Nigeria, particularly Zamfara, Katsina, and Kaduna states, has primarily affected Muslim communities. Armed criminal gangs have attacked villages, kidnapped thousands for ransom, and disrupted agricultural activities, creating a humanitarian catastrophe. These bandits, motivated primarily by economic gain rather than religious ideology, have shown no hesitation in targeting Muslim communities, schools, and places of worship.

    A crucial aspect often overlooked in the genocide narrative is that terrorist groups operating in Nigeria have demonstrated a consistent pattern of indiscriminate violence. Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Ansaru and Lakurawa have attacked both Christian and Muslim targets. Their ideology views any Nigerian who does not subscribe to their extreme interpretation of Islam as a legitimate target—this includes the vast majority of Nigerian Muslims.

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    The terrorists’ strategic objectives center on destabilizing the Nigerian state, controlling territory, and imposing their governance system. While they have certainly attacked churches, Christian communities, and used anti-Christian rhetoric, they have simultaneously waged sustained campaigns against Muslim institutions, traditional leaders, and government structures. Their violence is totalizing, aimed at anyone who resists their authority or represents the existing order.

    To characterize this as a genocide against Christians specifically is to misunderstand the nature of the threat and inadvertently minimize the suffering of Muslim victims who have died in equal or greater numbers. It also plays into the terrorists’ strategy of sowing religious division, which serves their interest in fragmenting Nigerian society along religious lines.

    The violence in states like Plateau, Benue, and Taraba presents additional complications to the genocide narrative. These states have experienced horrific bloodshed, often framed as attacks by Fulani Muslim herders against Christian farming communities. There is truth to this characterization in specific incidents—Christian villages have been attacked, churches burned, and entire communities displaced in what appears to be religiously motivated violence.

    However, a closer examination reveals that these conflicts are rooted in competition over land and resources, exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and the breakdown of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. While the religious dimension cannot be ignored—the perpetrators are often Muslim herders and the victims Christian farmers—the underlying drivers are economic and environmental.

    Critically, these conflicts have not been one-sided. Reprisal attacks carried out by Christian communities against Muslim herders communities and settlements have also occurred, resulting in significant Muslim casualties. Villages with Muslim populations have been attacked, mosques destroyed, and innocent Muslim herders killed in revenge for earlier attacks. This cycle of violence and counter-violence demonstrates that the situation is more accurately described as communal conflict rather than systematic genocide.

    The framing of these incidents solely as persecution of Christians ignores the Muslim victims and obscures the need for comprehensive solutions that address land use, climate adaptation, and intercommunal reconciliation. It also risks entrenching the very religious divisions that perpetuate the violence.

    Thus recent statements from the U.S. President,  Donald Trump regarding potential military intervention to protect Christians in Nigeria have sparked controversy and concern. While the international community’s attention to Nigeria’s security crisis is welcome, and assistance in defeating terrorist groups would be beneficial, such support must respect Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty and constitutional order.

    Nigeria is a sovereign nation with its own military and security apparatus. Any form of intervention must be conducted through proper diplomatic channels, with the consent of the Nigerian government, and in accordance with international law. Unilateral military action or intervention justified solely on the basis of protecting one religious community would be both illegal and counterproductive.

    Moreover, conspiracy theories have emerged suggesting that such intervention rhetoric is connected to Nigeria’s 2027 elections, potentially aimed at influencing domestic politics or supporting particular candidates. Whether or not these theories have merit, they highlight the danger of external actors inserting themselves into Nigeria’s internal affairs in ways that could destabilize rather than help the country.

    True Nigerians—those committed to the country’s unity and progress—must resist narratives that oversimplify the nation’s security challenges or seek to divide its people along religious lines. The violence affecting the country is real and demands urgent action, but that action must be based on accurate understanding of the problem.

    What Nigeria needs is comprehensive security sector reform, investment in affected communities regardless of their religious composition, genuine reconciliation efforts, and governance that delivers justice and economic opportunity to all citizens. International support should take the form of intelligence sharing, training, equipment, and diplomatic backing—not interventions that undermine sovereignty or reinforce religious divisions.

    The suffering of Christians in Nigeria is real and deserves attention. But so too is the suffering of Muslims, and of all Nigerians caught in the crossfire of terrorism, banditry, and communal violence. Only by acknowledging the full scope of the crisis can we hope to address it effectively. The goal should not be to protect one religious community at the expense of truth, but to protect all Nigerians and build a country where security, justice, and dignity are available to everyone, regardless of their faith.