It is also somewhat ironical and poetic that an incumbent government who, while in opposition, relentlessly attacked, aligned, vilified and cast aspersion on the then government of former president Goodluck Jonathan even when the country was on the right tracks, thriving and was in far better position than what it is today, now wants the opposition it has now stifled, gagged and emasculated to come to its aid
Last week, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, weighed in on the contentious discourse of purported Christian genocide in Nigeria. Trump, though did not describe the killing of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and Northern regions as genocide, voiced his concern over the persecution and targeted killings of Christians in the country. Trump designated Nigeria as a country of primary concern and urged the government of the West African country to end the persecution and targeted killings of Christians.
Trump’s stern post is the latest in the flurry of allegations of unconscionable treatment and mass killing of Christians in Nigeria which have gained traction on social media in recent weeks. The allegations, which were first made by popular American TV host, Bill Maher, have since been amplified by popular politician and Texas senator Ted Cruz and other key figures in the Republican Party and Trump’s government. They are also pushing for Trump’s authorisation of military intervention in Nigeria to save Christians in the country.
Trump’s Friday post on the genocide claim in Nigeria was quickly followed by another post on his Truth Social on Saturday. This time his tone was aggressive, menacing, threatening and unsettling. He described Nigeria as “a now disgraced country” and threatened an invasion of the country if the alleged persecution and killings of Christians in the country did not cease. His outburst has sent the habitually ambivalent and insouciant Tinubu’s government into overdrive, with government officials, appointees, and supporters working assiduously to either downplay the threat of military invasion of Nigeria by the United States as an empty bluff or outrightly dismiss the claim of genocide.
The invidious and dangerous characterisation of Nigeria’s deepening security crisis by Trump and his government has further driven a wedge between an already polarised citizenry, who are already fractured in every way imaginable, creating a schism that only serves to worsen the situation for the Nigerian government from a reputational standpoint. While supporters of opposition see Trump’s reaction as an opportunity to lash out at and cast the ruling party and Tinubu’s government, who they feel have been woeful and abysmal, in bad light and draw the attention of the world to the parlous and precarious state of Nigeria, the supporters of the ruling party and government of the day view the imbroglio as a coordinated and concerted effort to discredit the government and the opposition and many of their supporters, who they see as unpatriotic compatriots, are leveraging it lampoon them and the president.
While the appalling and disconcerting back-and-forth between anti-government and pro-government voices rages on social media, many are waiting with bated breath for leading opposition figures, such as 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to chime in and make their position known. The duo have been silent so far and has not said a word since the hysteria that greeted Trump’s searing and frightful remarks began. As emotions run high and tension mounts in the government, some key figures in the ruling party and social media influencers have started putting pressure on Obi and Atiku to publicly react to Trump’s position on Nigeria’s security situation and the Christian genocide claim.
Atiku and Obi may have decided not to speak on the issue not because they don’t know what to say or they don’t have anything to say, but because the situation has become a political canvas of which they must be careful and conscious of the paint their brushstrokes leave behind lest they risk finding themselves in an uncomfortable situations that can see them, particularly Obi, either incur the wrath of their supporters and alienate them from their teeming loyalists and staunch followers or get tossed in the crosshairs of their political adversaries. Also, this is a rare opportunity to get one over the ruling party and the president.
Since coming to power over two years ago, no incidents or events have rattled or unsettled the Tinubu government like the attention the Trump government has given to the claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria. For leading opposition bigwigs like Atiku and Obi, seeing the current government in such a distressful and unnerving position is a leverage that gives them the upper hand in the scheming and gamesmanship that typifies Nigeria’s politics both now and in the future. It will be foolish and stupid to rise in Tinubu’s government defence by refuting Trump’s misguided narrative. Interestingly, these figures, especially Obi, have at one point or the other in the past voiced their concern about the insecurity in the country and urged the government to do something about it. Obi, on several occasions, has had to visit victims of violent attacks and large-scale killings in far-flung enclaves and remote hotbeds of banditry and terrorism.
It is also somewhat ironical and poetic that an incumbent government who, while in opposition, relentlessly attacked, aligned, vilified and cast aspersion on the then government of former president Goodluck Jonathan even when the country was on the right tracks, thriving and was in far better position than what it is today, now wants the opposition it has now stifled, gagged and emasculated to come to its aid in the face of obnoxious and reckless interference of foreign power in the nation’s affairs.
In addition, the ambivalence of Tinubu and deeply politicised nature of the government he runs is why we are here today, it is not the silence of Atiku and Obi in this critical time that brought us here and nothing they say now will have any profound and significant effect on the situation or drastically address the criminal activities of perverse elements that brought us here in the first place. The ruling party will not need characters like Obi and Atiku to speak out against Christian genocide allegations and the threat of invasion by the US if Tinubu’s government has covered itself in glory by not mollycoddling terrorists.
Furthermore, the government exposed itself to avoidable international opprobrium and needless denigration of Nigeria with the way it has managed the deepening security crisis in the country and how it has treated criminals and murderous cretins who have unleashed terror on fellow Nigerians and wreaked unbelievable havoc on the country. The government began its own slow and destructive reputational damage and public relations disaster when it began to rehabilitate terrorists and reintegrate them into the very society where they had committed unspeakable atrocities. The government cannot in good conscience claim to be fighting terrorism when it is negotiating, organising retreat and capacity building workshops for terrorists arrested in other parts of the country. The government has not acted with the tact, grace and seriousness of a group of people who know what they are doing.
The best course of action now is for the Tinubu government to heed Trump’s admonition, which urged them to deal decisively with those behind the deepening insecurity and targeted killing of Christians in the country, not wait for Obi and Atiku to make some perfunctory statements that change nothing in the grand scheme of things.
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