Opinion: Trump’s Threat: A patriot’s call for creative response, US restraints , and sincere nation healing by Nigeria’s Political Elite (1)
By John Imonbhio Abhuere
The news from the USA was shocking : A possible military intervention and other forms of punishment. According to Media reports based on numerous complaints, requests, letters of petition from Nigeria’ allegedly made available to US President Donald Trump, he decided to intervene in Nigeria’s internal affairs, ostensibly to stop the persecution or ‘massacre of Christians’ in the country.
Towards this end, President Trump re-designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for religious freedom violations, threatened to cut aid, hinted at a military intervention, and ordered preparations by the relevant department to “go into that now disgraced country ‘guns-a-blazing.”
The message from the USA raised much concern across the country and catapulted the country’s security problems to the international stage with all its conceptual limitations.
The issues here are complex from conceptual, misplaced hope, loss of faith to the dying spirit of patriotism, nationalism in Nigeria.The Trump’s threat and reasons adduced for it are already in the public domain with many comments -some of them very disturbing , misleading and even frustrating. For them, the coming of the USA even if it is with ‘guns-a-blazing is perhaps the best thing to happen. In spite of obvious danger inherent in it, I can see the expression of happiness and joy of great expectations in such comments. However military option should be rejected.
FOREIGN INVASION NOT A TEA PARTY
Foreign invasion and occupation are not a tea party. In practice it is enslavement, loss of Independence & puppetry at best. Trump should keep his guns, grant us funds to improve our social infrastructure, capacity building for security management, invest in the social development of the country to help lift millions of Nigerians above the poverty line.
It is a grave mistake we make and avoidable risk that will hurt us badly that we are taking by inviting the USA under Trump into Nigeria…. It is like riding on the tiger’s back, or touching a cobra’s tail. The consequence is dire.
As Jimmy Cliff king of Raggae sang : “The harder they come, the harder they fall” .I would rather be free man in my grave than being a slave” in my home land. The enthusiasm here betrays a poor understanding of the psychology of President Trump.
This article is a patriot’s call for creative response, US restraints, effective diplomacy, sincere Nation healing by Nigeria’s political elite. The US should be impressed upon to drop the military option because it is absolutely unnecessary, will be calamitous to Nigeria and the world at large and above all worsen the suffering of the ordinary Nigerians.
The chance is high that the sponsors of insecurity would escape the pains of Trump’s invasion because they can. In the circumstances only ordinary citizens would suffer the pains of attack and foreign occupation.So Trump should not come for the war of liberation. It would be the first step to the recolonization of Nigeria .That is what those encouraging Trump are ignoring or forgetting.
This is also an effort to show that there is no religious persecution or genocide against Christians or any group for that matter in Nigeria.There is huge or acute insecurity problem no doubt in the country. It is nationwide, more severe in some areas than others. But it affects everybody -Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Traditional religion faithful and others. It is not targeted at Christians or Christianity per se.
INSECURITY IN NIGERIA IS NOT GENOCIDAL ATTACK AGAINST CHRISTIANS
I have reasons to argue that insecurity in Nigeria is not genocidal attacks against Christians alone. These include the definition of insecurity in Nigeria by Trump, Nigerian elites’ perfidy, personal field experience and observation. As I observed on 6th November 20,2025 on the Edo Broadcasting Corporation News Programme -Unfiltered, there are killings and insecurity across the country. The Trump’s plan is fluid, narrow in scope and difficult to accept because it is at variance with the historical and social reality of Nigeria. Christians have been known to kill fellow Christians, and Muslims have killed fellow Muslims. Both Christians and Muslims have fled their homes for safety because of insecurity There had been killings, arsons, kidnapping, insecurity nationwide. However, they were/are not necessarily targeted at Christians only.
DEFINITIONS
Conceptual clarification will be useful here. In particular, it will be helpful to understand the meaning of genocide, persecution and citizens general attitude to religion, ethnic differences in Nigeria
The Dictionary defines Genocide as “the deliberate, systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group” in society. Legally,“genocide” refers to certain acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. It is an international crime, according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)- Google search. com . PERSECUTION :Almost in the same vein,Persecution (noun) is defined as “hostility and ill-treatment, especially on the basis of ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation or political beliefs”. In the Bible we see persecution as “the deliberate and cruel mistreatment of individuals or groups due to their religious beliefs, often involving harassment, oppression, or violence-https://www.ushmm.org, Google search.com.
Our point is that such planned massive destruction as painted or imagined here is not in Nigeria. Nigeria has problems of insecurity due to social neglect and political ambitions of the elites.
INSECURITY: The Oxford Dictionary defines Insecurity as( a) uncertainty or anxiety about oneself; lack of confidence. For example”.(b) the state of being open to danger or threat; lack of protection’, for instance “growing job insecurity”.
It is needless to say that the “feeling of deep sense of insecurity, a state of being open to danger and lack of protection is palpable in the air and shared by citizens of all faiths across the nation.
WRONG DEFINITION
It should be clear that Trump gave a wrong definition and interpretation of insecurity by reducing it to a Christian versus Muslim tango. To reduce the complex security problems of the country to religious persecution and massacre of Christians is to miss the point .
The problem with Trump’s proposal is the wrong definition and narrow perception of the insecurity issue in Nigeria. Precisely he defined the problem as purely a religious one- the massacre of Christians by Muslims. It is not.
While the problem of insecurity is far larger than religion,this has the potential of creating a contrived inter- faith enmity and distrust in the country-that is, creating and fuelling a problem that does not exist originally and capable of deepening and escalating the existing crises almost beyond control.
The wrong impression should be corrected because the way a problem is defined informs the way it is solved.
According to Media reports, the President drew his conclusion based on the loads of information made available. Some of the reports might have been doctored or sexed up.
For us the definition of Nigeria’s problem as religious persecution is wrong, misleading and dangerous.
The Premise of the ‘Christian Genocide’ Narrative is flawed. The charge of religious genocide or persecution against Christians in Nigeria is not correct.It is a frightening impression that could trigger religious war and hostility and distrust.
Many wrong things have been done in the name of religion by unpatriotic elements in Nigeria.The core problems are socio -economic and political, not religious even though it could appear so due to political manipulation. Political leaders should take President Trump’s threat of attack on Nigeria over alleged massacre of Christians in the country seriously. His words
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE/OBSERVATION Another
way I want to show the true nature of insecurity in Nigeria is to draw lessons from my field experience and observations to reveal what I call the pattern, colour and nature of insecurity in Nigeria.
Over thirty years’ of working with the National Youth Service Corps that took me to all the states of the country and many local Governments exposed me to some of the realities of the country including the nature of insecurity.
I have helped in freeing corps members from Kidnapper’s den in the South East and South South,investigated death of corps members in the north, disappearance of corps members in the west, reviewed reports, relevant literature, observed historical developments, pattern and colour and nature of insecurity in Nigeria. What it appears on the surface is different from what is within.Each region seems to have its own peculiar cause or form of Insecurity as follows:
Militancy in Niger Delta (South- South zone is due to developmental neglect over time by the government.
OPC in the West is a cultural movement to defend the Yoruba nation. It became an instrument of political struggle against military dictatorship after the annulment of Abiola victory. Nothing religious about it.
Boko Haram in the North East started off as a social movement against perceived injustice in the area , later it became desire for religious purity within Islam. Initially killing fellow Muslims.It remained so until the political elite hijacked the group to serve personal and party interest.
In the North East, North Central geopolitical zones we have criminals under different titles -terrorists, bandits Fulani herdsmen committing various acts of terror. As we came to know later, some politicians imported many of these people into Nigeria around 2014-15 for political reasons – ostensibly to fight should they lose the 2015 elections.
I had left Abuja to the Plateau, Benue and Kogi State to investigate security issues affecting corps members that were advertised as religious only to discover otherwise.
Ethnic tensions especially between settlers and aborigines, political differences were actually the root cause but dressed in religious gowns or apparels.
Banditry is a product of under development, poverty , political ambitions of some elite and weakness of the law enforcement system to deal effectively.
In the Eastern Geo political zones,political agitations by IPOB due to what they call social neglect and political marginalisation.
Kidnapping for commercial purposes is however more rampant. It is a well organised big business that reflects people’s greed for illicit wealth, deficiency of security structure. Both sources of Insecurity in the East have no religious purpose.
The last example I will cite to show this here is the gruesome murder of a dear friend who fondly calls me Big Uncle by some members of IPOB near Owerri to teach Nigeria some lessons. Christopher Friday Okuns was then the NYSC State Coordinator Akwa Ibom Uyo. He was on his way to his station in preparation for NYSC orientation camp when he was stopped, arrested and cruelly executed for traveling through Igbo cities part of Nigeria on Monday- a day the IPOB had declared as “sit at home day” in the entire South East geo-political zone.For emphasis, my friend was Christian killed by Christian members of a Christian group in largely Christian populated states of Nigeria. He was not murdered for religious reasons but for socio- -economic and political reasons. His death is significant as it shows that Christians do kill Christians for other reasons. And the security machinery was too weak in the country to provide security for citizens From the foregoing it can easily be seen that insecurity in Nigeria is a complex elite game far beyond Christian versus Muslim palaver or tango. It is caused by a number of factors that include elites’ complicity, manipulation above all others. This is easy to see from the outward features of many of those caught in acts of insecurity. It shows them to be poor and young. It raises the question about sponsorship of insecurity and suggests ideas about the men or women behind the mas
To frame the entire crisis as a one-sided “Christian genocide” is to miss the point and to fail to solve insecurity problem in Nigeria.It is an “over simplification, inaccurate and polarising. It is a distortion that plays into foreign domestic politics while ignoring the shared national suffering.
While this is not denying the influence of some international Jihadist groups, USAID was reportedly used to sponsor insurgents in some parts of Nigeria. Our goal is to suggest that the US can help in other ways such as supervised investment in the social development of Nigeria, capacity building for our Security men and women so as to be able to detect and check crimes effectively. It is to reject a US Military expedition to Nigeria – which to me represents the first step to the colonisation of the country God forbids.
* Prof. Abhuere FNIM @Centre for Child Care and Youth Development (CCYD), Abuja
