A cleric, Prof. Amidu Sanni has described U.S. President Donald Trump’s war rhetoric against Nigeria as “the misadventure of a reckless outburst.”
Sanni, the immediate past Chief Imam of Lagos State University, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, added that the impending invasion could be prevented if the government acted with urgency.
NAN reports that the Trump administration recently announced that Nigeria would be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” under U.S. law for alleged religious freedom violations.
But Sanni said It was ironic to turn a sudden human rights activist while ignoring the massacres in Gaza or Sudan.
He nonetheless added: “The sleepless nights being ‘enjoyed’ or suffered by the Nigerian government are self-inflicted; they are the outcome of systemic failure”, including poor international relations and an uncoordinated security architecture.
He added that they also involve weak media engagement by state actors locally and internationally, as well as mischievous or uninformed interpretations by local and foreign non-state actors.
He added that the pervasive, senseless killings ravaging Nigeria over the years—especially since the Boko Haram onslaught in 2000—had claimed lives irrespective of faith.
Sanni blamed the systemic failures of successive civilian administrations since the 1999 return to democracy for their inability to address economic, political, and security challenges, which he said were at the root of the killings across the country.
He noted that failure of state and non-state actors to tackle security challenges had fuelled banditry, kidnapping, illegal mining, diversion of security funds, and impunity for offenders.
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“Trump becoming more Catholic than the Pope, or more Anglican/Protestant than the Archbishop of Canterbury, should be rightly seen in light of the economic reforms being pushed by the Nigerian government in the oil and financial sectors,” he said.
“These reforms are dislodging the American and Western stranglehold on our economy and denying free petrodollars and unearned foreign exchange to the round-tripping bourgeoisie who had hitherto enjoyed free funds and influence.
“Trump’s proclaimed war threat is simply economic and political.
“Unfortunately, some of our religious opinion leaders seem to endorse Trump’s suicidal and less-than-altruistic military or missionary misadventure.
“Many people fail to realise that war is not about who is right, but who is left after the bitter engagements.”
He also criticised the government’s diplomatic lapses, noting that Nigeria had yet to appoint substantive ambassadors to key world capitals almost three years into the current administration.
“That the President has not fully utilised international platforms such as the UN General Assembly and the G20 to tell Nigeria’s true story and rebrand our economic and political profiles is unacceptable,” he said.
Sanni, however, faulted the government’s media strategy, saying the presidency had not institutionalised periodic presidential parleys with local and international media, a gap that, he said, worsened misinformation about the country.
He urged the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to jointly tell the world that Muslims and Christians in Nigeria stand united against all violations of human rights.
Meanwhile, Prof. Freedom Onuoha, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately assemble a high-level diplomatic contact group to hedge against possible U.S. intervention.
Onuoha is the Coordinator of the Security, Violence, and Conflict Research Group at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the diplomats should engage more intensely with Washington to identify areas of disagreement and work out more beneficial strategic responses to Nigeria’s security concerns.
“The issuance of terse, ambiguous official statements or responses is not enough right now,” he said.
“It needs to be matched with clear-eyed, follow-through bilateral diplomatic contact and engagement.”
Onuoha added that the Nigerian government must reset its approach to dealing with non-state actors by properly resourcing the military and reforming the police.
“The president must urgently reform the police to assume its rightful place in providing internal security so the military can focus on confronting non-state actors,” he said.
“This will enable the military to be more aggressive and offensive in tackling these groups, irrespective of their ideological, religious, or ethnic leanings.”
He further advised President Tinubu to establish a high-level Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address injustices and deprivations fuelling violent conflicts across communities.
“Nigeria’s security crisis did not start today and will not end any time soon, whether or not the U.S. designates Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern,” Onuoha said.
“For too long, the Nigerian state — under successive administrations since 1999, especially from 2008 — has proven incapable of protecting its citizens from brutal attacks by armed non-state actors.
“The inconsistent approach of granting amnesty to some groups while being unjustifiably brutal to others gives the impression that state officials are complicit in the persistence of violence and killings.”
(NAN)
