Trump’s Comment On Nigeria: A Wake Up Call On Enduring Insecurity

Our Correspondent

DAILY COURIER – Nigeria’s complex insecurity challenges have once again come under international scrutiny, following recent remarks by former U.S. President Donald Trump that have stirred deep reflection about the country’s long running insurgency, its management and the apparent lack of accountability for years of bloodshed.

Trump’s pronouncement, while politically charged and interpreted by some as a veiled threat of intervention, has been seen by others as an urgent wake up call for the Nigerian government to confront the realities of the crisis head on.

For years, Nigeria’s leaders have been urged to treat the insurgency with utmost seriousness, yet despite thousands of deaths, there has not been a single successful prosecution of those behind these atrocities.

A retired senior police officer Dr. James Vandefan in an interview with journalists in Abuja argued that the international community has watched Nigeria’s situation with growing concern, as the spate of killings continues under various labels.

MORE STORIES: https://dailycourier.com.ng/court-orders-airtel-to-pay-%e2%82%a6150-2-million-for-wrongful-termination-disability-discrimination/

From the so called farmer herder crisis to Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups, the nomenclature may differ, but the devastation remains the same.

In Borno State, for instance, Vandefan recalled the earliest Boko Haram assaults were concentrated in predominantly Christian local governments, about nine in total, while Muslim majority areas were largely spared.” Churches were razed to the ground while mosques stood untouched” pointing out that such selective attacks, expose the sect’s ideological bias.

“The kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok remains one of the most painful reminders of this pattern. Among those abducted was Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl who, unlike her Muslim schoolmates, remains in captivity to this day. Her only “offence,” was her refusal to renounce her faith. The negotiator who secured the release of the others left Leah behind and since then, she has never been seen” he said

The implications were clear: religion was playing an undeniable role in Nigeria’s cycle of violence.

“The tragic killing of a female student in Sokoto, accused of blasphemy and burned alive by her schoolmates, is another stark example. Years later, no one has been prosecuted. Similarly, across the North Central states, Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa, the pattern of attacks has been largely one directional. Christian communities are assaulted, homes razed, churches burned, while there has been no reported instance of Christians mobilising to burn mosques or attack Muslims in retaliation”

The numbers tell a grim story, recalled Vandefan, ” In one horrifying incident in Plateau State, over 500 people were massacred in a single night. Entire villages were wiped out men, women and children all of them Christians. The same pattern stretches across Benue, Adamawa, and Taraba, where, just recently, a church was set ablaze.

Many Nigerians now argue that what has been branded as a “farmer-herder conflict” is, in reality, a systematic, religion driven genocide. They question why prominent Islamic clerics in the North have remained silent, even as the bloodletting continues. The silence, they say, is deafening.

“The emergence of Boko Haram itself raises further questions” Vandefan noted, pointing out again that “Towards the end of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, a former governor from Kaduna publicly admitted that the sect was imported into the region by political actors who wanted to destabilise the government should Jonathan win re-election. The statement echoed an earlier remark attributed to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who was quoted as saying he would make Nigeria ungovernable if Jonathan triumphed at the polls”

Yet, despite these open confessions, no one was ever arrested or prosecuted.

In the long, bloody history of Boko Haram, Nigeria has made countless arrests, but not a single conviction of a high-profile figure associated with terrorism. Security agencies have worked tirelessly, sometimes at great personal cost, but their efforts often end where political will fails.

Intelligence has been gathered, financiers identified, and international cooperation secured. Even the government of Dubai released a list of suspected Nigerian financiers of terrorism, most of them Muslims but while the UAE prosecuted them, Nigeria did nothing.

To complicate matters further, the Miyetti Allah group has, on several occasions, publicly admitted responsibility for certain reprisal attacks, claiming that they were in response to cattle rustling or farmer aggression. Yet, its leadership has never been interrogated or held accountable.

Statistically, the number of Christian victims far outweighs Muslim casualties in the crisis, reinforcing the perception of a targeted religious war.

Trump’s remarks, therefore, come as both a condemnation and a provocation. But beyond the politics, some Nigerians interpret them as a reminder of the global frustration over Nigeria’s inability or unwillingness to end the bloodshed.

Trump’s statement has been widely misinterpreted. Rather than a literal invasion, Trump’s words clearly referred to the U.S.’s capacity to swiftly neutralize terrorist networks that Nigeria has failed to contain for over a decade. With superior intelligence, advanced weapons systems and elite forces and dismantle Boko Haram in a matter of hours if invited to act.

The retired Police officer argued that Nigeria’s military has the manpower and tools to do the job, especially after billions of dollars have been spent on equipment like the Tucano fighter jets, but lacks the political direction and coordination to use them effectively.

The deeper problem, he emphasized is political will. “Presidents have come and gone, but none has shown the boldness to tackle insurgency to its logical end. The military, too, has grown complacent. Some officers are reportedly sympathetic to the insurgents, making it hard to prosecute an all out war. Trump himself, in his remarks, pointed to Nigeria’s security architecture, which he claimed is dominated by a single ethnic group, a situation that breeds bias and limits effectiveness.

Click on the link below to follow DAILY COURIER on WhatsApp👇 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAJv3FFnSz23aQ4Ab1M

As long as sympathy and ethnicity dilute national resolve, the fight against insurgency will remain half hearted.

For Nigeria, Trump’s statement should not be viewed as a threat but as a wake up call, a reminder that the world is watching and that the responsibility to secure the nation’s future lies squarely with its leaders.

The task before government, therefore, is clear, summon the courage, muster the will, and reclaim the nation from years of politically enabled terror. Only then will Nigeria silence the guns that have for too long defined its tragedy.