Security and Policy Analyst, Dr. Kabir Adamu, has warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments threatening military action against Nigeria over alleged religious persecution violate international norms and should be treated as a serious escalation.
Dr Adamu said the development was unsurprising but deeply concerning, recalling that during Trump’s first tenure, Nigeria was also placed under the “country of particular concern” category before the decision was reversed by the Democrats.
“What is surprising, however, is this escalation to threaten to attack a sovereign state. This is completely against the rules-based system that the world has embraced. No country should threaten the sovereignty of another over an allegation it has not even allowed the other to respond to.”
Trump has threatened to deploy U.S. military forces to Nigeria if the alleged killing of Christians in the country is not stopped.
On Friday, he designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” over what he described as a “mass slaughter” of Christians, directing U.S. lawmakers to investigate.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
By Saturday, the U.S. President escalated his warning, ordering the Department of War to prepare for “possible action” and threatening to suspend all American aid to Nigeria if the attacks persisted.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. 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,” he declared. Dr. Adamu, said Trump’s remarks appeared politically motivated and linked to domestic U.S. politics rather than grounded in fact. Punch/Abdullah Oladipo.
