Like volcanoes, since the United States’ recent designation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern,’ there has been an eruption in all parts of the country, especially in government quarters, with tongues wagging, wailing, and tantrums being thrown.
Apparently alarmed by the unscrupulous, unabated killings in Nigeria, the world’s number one man, President of the United States, Donald Trump, had, in a recent post, averred that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and “radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter”.
In a very decisive statement, he strongly warned that “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”. “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”
Expectedly, aides to President Bola Tinubu, such as Bayo Onanuga, Bwala Daniel, and even Minister Festus Keyamo, have been all out throwing defensive missiles – though with carefully selected words, obviously afraid of what the wrong choice of words can earn them in the hands of the U.S President. Like the 400 prophets who said the same thing to King Ahab while he was preparing for war against Syria, Tinubu’s aides were clear – there is no Christian genocide in Nigeria.
What has been particularly troubling is that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress have been extremely complicit in everything they inveighed in 2014. From economy, to insecurity, joblessness, bad leadership, and even ill-treatment of the masses, President Tinubu was cacophonously vociferous in criticizing the then President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party – today, he is playing out every single one of his criticisms and living in denial.
For instance, in a tweet on 29th January 2014, Tinubu wrote, “The slaughtering of Christian worshippers is strongly condemnable. It calls to question the competence of Jonathan to protect Nigerians.” Fast word to 17th March 2014, he posted on X formerly known as Twitter, “The sheer number of unemployed youth who turned out for jobs at NIS and the tragic deaths is an Albatross on the neck of Jonathan’s govt”.
It could be seen that on 14th April of the same year, he posted that “On matters of security, the bulk stops at the President’s table. Like in other countries, Jonathan is the Chief Security Officer. Stop Boko H”. The President, in a post on 19th May 2014, averred that “The Kano attack is a sad reminder that we live in an unsafe country. It’s a wake-up call for the Jonathan govt. We must confront terrorism.”
Further checks revealed that on 13th August 2014, Tinubu posted that “A military and police force assembled and paid by the Jonathan government and PDP cannot serve national interest but their paymasters”.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Adamu Garba, has, in a recent interview, corroborated the moves of the APC in 2014, explicitly stating that when the APC was still in opposition, some of its members visited the White House to seek assistance over what they described then as the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria. He said, “In fact, in 2014, Nigerian opposition party, then the APC, were in the White House seeking for the same help on the same Christian genocide as a fallout of the Chibok girls. This is established”.
In a more enthralling twist, facts have emerged on how Nigeria’s newly appointed Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), wrote a legal brief in a 2020 report that explicitly described alleged mass killings and violent campaigns in Nigeria as acts of genocide. According to SaharaReporters, in the report titled “Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter,” Amupitan called for urgent international intervention to stop what he termed “pogrom and attacks against the Christians and minority groups in Nigeria.” I won’t be surprised if his position on the genocide has changed by now – you can refer to what Bwala Daniel said about joining the APC – oh yes, Amupitan was appointed by Tinubu.
It could also be recalled that in an interview with ThisDay Newspaper dated April 13, 1997, the Nigerian leader quipped that he does not believe in one Nigeria.
Prior to the infamous and nefarious enthronement of the APC, President Tinubu publicly affirmed that there was Christian genocide, accused the military of being mere tools in the hands of Jonathan, rubbished the economy and even noted that “we live in an unsafe country”.
Today, despite masterminding unscrupulous policies that have completely wiped out the middle class and reduced public servants to beggars since their take-home pay can’t even take them home, and literally doing close to nothing as insecurity ravages the nation, the president has continued to deny that there is genocide in Nigeria.
Nigeria, a country that is not at war, loses more lives than even those at war. Killings have become the norm, and in response, the government issues lame press releases, and the killing spree continues. I am yet to phantom how a government can continue to watch as terrorists slaughter its citizens unabatedly.
To cite just one heart-wrenching scenario, in a recent statement titled “THE UNSPOKEN GENOCIDE: GCCA ACCOUNT ON CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN GWOZA, BORNO STATE,” the Gwoza Christian Community Association revealed that “Before the insurgency, there were more than 176 large church buildings across the local government. Today, 148 of those churches were burnt and lie in ruins. Entire Christian neighbourhoods in Gwoza East and West were flattened; in many places, every Christian home was destroyed.
“The human toll and destruction are detailed and specific. In Gava-West alone, 74 towns and villages were sacked, 36,946 families were dispersed, 99 churches were destroyed, and 292 people were killed in September 2013. In Attagara, 13 churches were destroyed, 1,738 families displaced and 140 Christians killed by 3 June 2014. By 9 August 2014, 2,203 Christian houses and 28 churches were destroyed, and 102 Christians — including three pastors — were killed in Gwoza town, Kamba and Gharza. The total pastors killed by insurgents in Gwoza local government was 12. In other Christian strongholds within Gwoza, such as Ngoshe, Bokko, Pulka, Limankara, Ngoshe-samra, Barawa and Gava-North, both loss of life and the physical destruction exceeded local expectations”.
That is just one local government in Borno State; imagine the total figure in the entire State! How many more States can we mention – Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Kwara, Kebbi – all over Nigeria, it is raining terror and the government, whose first duty is to protect the citizenry, is rather protecting itself and leaving the people at the mercy of terrorists.
President Trump has only said he wants to wipe out the terrorists, so I am perturbed as to why this is giving the Nigerian government sleepless nights. Since they are unable to exterminate the terrorists, I would have thought that they would welcome, with open arms, any external help to get the job done and restore peace and sanity to our dear nation. Except maybe, there is something they are not saying, Nigeria needs help to make our farms, roads, and even homes a haven again.
On their part, the Nigerian youth, who are divided across religious and ethnic lines, and rather busy making jokes about Trump’s imminent action. People who make up 60% of Nigeria’s population are unable to come together to demand security and good governance from their government – rather, they turn everything into content and jokes.
We don’t need a soothsayer to know that the nation is sitting on a time bomb, and President Tinubu must know that the people are tired of suffering, tired of living in fear, tired of watching their loved ones kidnapped on their farms, roads, and even homes and slaughtered.
From the South to the West and from the East to the North, blood has been flowing endlessly, and if it will take Trump or even all the world leaders combined to end the needless and unscrupulous killings, the time is now!
Stanley Ugagbe is a seasoned journalist with a passion for exposing social issues and advocating for justice. With years of experience in the media industry, he has written extensively on governance, human rights, and societal challenges, crafting powerful narratives that inspire change. He can be reached via stanleyakomeno@gmail.com
