By Obike Ukoh
During thegestation period,’ it was apparent that the US President Donald Trump has made up his mind to declare Nigeria Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged genocide against Christians.
In his first tenure, Nigeria was designated CPC in 2020, but reversed in 2021. But on Friday, 31 Oct. Trump resurrected the 2020 classification. In summary, CPC generally indicates that the country engages in activities detrimental to US interests or universal human rights standards.
Trump in his post, said inter alia: “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern.’
“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria and numerous other countries.’’
Trump also threatened that: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the US will immediately stop all aid and assistance, 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.’’ The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth has already responded to the directive of the President. He stated: “Yes Sir, The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria and anywhere must end immediately.
“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.”
Obviously, this is not the best of time for the Nigerian President and leadership; blamed for not being proactive when American congressmen and Christian leaders raised the issue of Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The President, Bola Tinubu, in a statement he personally signed, said the “ characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians.”
President Tinubu assured that his administration “is committed to working with the United States government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation on protection of communities of all faiths.”
In the statement titled: “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” Tinubu insisted that “Since 2023, our administration has maintained an open and active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges which affect citizens across faiths and regions.”
He insisted that, “Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”
“He pledged commitment to work with the US government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation on protection of communities of all faiths.”
The government said these claims do not reflect the situation on the ground. Even before Tinubu personally issued his statement, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, explained that Nigerians of all faiths have long lived, worked, and worshipped together peacefully.
He stressed that the President Bola Tinubu administration remains committed to fighting terrorism, strengthening interfaith harmony, and protecting the lives and rights of all its people.
Ebienfa said the country will continue to engage constructively with the Government of the United States, with the essence to deepen mutual understanding of regional dynamics and the country’s ongoing peace and security efforts.
Adding his voice, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria as gross exaggeration. Onanuga said that there is no ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria. This is a gross exaggeration of the Nigerian situation. What we do have are sporadic attacks on some villages by bandits and terrorists, and the attacks are religiously insensitive. “Christians, Muslims, churches, and mosques are attacked randomly.”
Sen. Ali Ndume, former Chief Whip and the current senator representing Borno South, on his part, blamed the Tinubu administration and the Senate for the designation of Nigeria as Country of Special Concern by Donald Trump.
Ndume in a statement, accused both the executive and legislative arms of complacency, pointing out that their failure to proactively engage the United States government on the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria led to the development. The senator recalled that he had earlier sponsored a motion in the Senate on “Christian genocide” in the country.
The motion, he said, led to resolutions mandating the Nigerian government to engage the US with verified facts and figures. However, Senator Ndume accused the Tinubu administration and the Senate of treating the allegation raised by US lawmaker, Riley Moore, with complacency, prior to Trump’s declaration.
He urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to engage the US government with facts and figures on the activities of terrorists organizations, which he noted were blind to faith. “I have alerted the government, I even moved a motion. Nigeria is a sovereign state, it isn’t about what the United States can do to us, but about the misconception and the ripple effects of classifying us as a Country of Particular Concern.
“We should engage the American government by presenting facts and figures. By engaging the US government, we should demand that they hear the other side of the story from the Nigerian government and the Muslim community.
“Muslims have been killed too. The genocide isn’t against Christians but Nigerians generally,” he said.
Since the classification of Nigeria as CPC, a twist has emerged with analysts and commentators arguing that what is happening now is nemesis.
They say that as an opposition leader, Tinubu was one of the vocal voices, criticizing then President Goodluck Jonathan for attacks on Christians. They specifically said that in January 2014, Tinubu, then an opposition leader, lambasted Jonathan over attacks by Boko Haram in Borno and Adamawa states that targeted Christian communities.
“The slaughtering of Christian worshippers is strongly condemnable. It calls into question the competence of Jonathan to protect Nigerians,” Tinubu stated at the time. Also in April 2014, amid escalating violence including the Nyanya bombing in Abuja, Tinubu, also descended on the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, accusing it of inability to ensure safety of the citizens.
“My heart bleeds for our people and the country over the deaths in Nyanya. A government unable to protect its citizens deserves to be queried,” the then opposition leader said. They also pointed out that during the time of Jonathan, a state of emergency was even declared in some northern states in turmoil as a result of the then rampaging insecurity.
The say that the current administration is yet to do so, rather a state of emergency was declared in a state, just experiencing political differences among the politicians. Whether the classification is justifiable or not, government should deepen the fight against the Boko Haram menace, banditry, farmers/herders clashes and bloodbath in Plateau/Benue axis.
As long as these deviant acts persist, the eye of the world will be on Nigeria.
