Three renowned international affairs experts yesterday outlined how Nigeria should respond to the United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy military might in Nigeria over the alleged killing of Christians.
They spoke yesterday in different interviews with The Nation, just as the U.S Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, confirmed that the department was planning for action against Islamic jihadists in Nigeria.
One of them, a professor of International Law, Akin Oyebode (SAN), described Trump’s remarks as ”misadvised, misdirected and imperialistic.” But he called on the Federal Government to put its act together.
Oyebode noted that it was a jaundiced view by any country or person to assume that only Christians were being killed in Nigeria.
According to the renowned professor of law and academia, the maxim for Trump’s action in international law is ‘parem parem non-habet imperium’, meaning, ‘a sovereign cannot exercise authority over another.’
He said: ‘Trump’s action is misadvised, misdirected and imperialistic. Because he has got away with his acts of aggression against Venezuela, he believes that Nigeria is a small fry and that there is nothing we can do.
‘But he is gravely mistaken because Nigeria is a significant member of the international community. This is the world’s largest black nation, and he will not even enjoy the support of the African-American community in the U.S. let alone Nigerians here.
‘Even though he might win the propaganda award to humiliate and embarrass Nigerians, history is on the side of the oppressed. We are the victims of imperialist threats.
‘That does not say that Christians have not been massacred in Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt. Even Kwara State has suffered some incidents of warfare by rebels. The same thing in the southeastern part of the country.
‘It is a jaundiced view to say that only Christians have been victims of genocide. I think Nigeria is to be blamed for not appointing ambassadors for more than two years because the ambassador should have been the first port of call to respond to Trump.
Besides stressing the need for Nigeria to have ambassadors and high commissioners, the expert urged the Bola Tinubu administration to raise a think-tank to work out responses to the Trump administration.
He said: ‘Because there is no Ambassador in Washington D.C now, he (Trump) entertains the arrogance and the impudence of telling us that he is going to deal with us. It’s embarrassing.
‘Nigeria should get its act together by constituting a small think-tank to calibrate the responses that we should give Donald Trump.
‘You know, he called us shithole before. But I’m saying that you have to show superior wisdom and not act out your own thinking. He definitely has no regard for black people.
‘Unlike (Joe) Biden, who had Nigerians in his cabinet, I have not seen a single Nigerian in the cabinet of Donald Trump. So, Donald Trump is giving full rein to African people from South Africa. That he is treating us with utmost contempt by telling us to go to hell.
‘That’s what it all amounts to. But you might discover through his chagrin that Nigeria is not an easy piece of meat to swallow.
‘So, he must be mindful of the possibility of Nigeria getting stuck in his throat. But we are not his advisers.
‘I have seen the response by the government, which I think, diplomatically, is a good response.’ A professor of Political Science and former Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Kayode Soremekun, said the insecurity in Nigeria is partly reflective of the consequence of the structure of the international system.
According to him, it is an international system that is hallmarked by unipolarity.
He said: ‘What I am saying, therefore, is that at the moment, unlike in the previous era, there is only one superpower in the international system.
‘And that is why it is possible for Washington, through Trump, to virtually speak to Nigeria in that way. In the previous era, there would have been a counterbalance from Moscow.
But like we said, it is a case of unipolarity. Having said that, it also means that we lack the wherewithal to engage America in the field of diplomacy.
Like Oyebode, Soremekun noted that the lack of an ambassador from Nigeria in the U.S created the tension. also said the reaction by the U.S ”is an opportunity for the Nigerian to ‘clear up the mess,’ if there is any?
He said: ‘As I speak to you, we do not have a substantive ambassador in Washington. An ambassador in Washington would have been able to douse that kind of fire and present an alternative viewpoint as regards the reality in Nigeria. Again, there are peculiarities.
‘There are peculiarities which govern the American domestic space. By that, I mean the American foreign policy runs on certain indices – Indices of pressure groups, and indices of interest groups that can easily, more or less, reject alternative perspectives as regards Nigeria’s case. But again, a lot of Nigerians don’t even understand the way the foreign policy machine works in the U.S.
‘That’s what they call the foreign policy process. And Nigeria could have used this process to present another viewpoint to the Trump administration. Here, I’m referring to bodies like the Congressional Black Caucus, TransAfrica, and some natural friends of Africa who would have been able to, more or less, reject the perspective on Nigeria.
‘Having said that, what is the reality here? Do we really have genocide in Nigeria? Is it true?
‘But in any case, every country has its own blinds. For instance, New York is regarded as the murder capital of the world. What is Trump doing about it? You have mass shootings in the U.S.
‘There is a subculture of the gun in that country. So, Washington itself is not a perfect site. Still, it is an opportunity for Nigeria to sit up and clear up the mess, if there is any.”
Former Nigerian High Commissioner to Botswana and former Ambassador to Belgium, Prof. Alaba Ogunsanwo, said Trump was free to express his view on the situation in Nigeria.
‘Anybody can hold any position about any other country and shape their foreign policy on it; that is their business entirely. It doesn’t concern any other country,’ he said.
Asked how the Federal Government should handle the matter, Ogunsanwo replied: ‘The government has already issued a statement. The President, I understand, has issued a statement. I read that from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So, with that, the approach should be government to government.”
It’s time for Nigerians to unite, say Kwankwaso, Lamido
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, Leader of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State also spoke on the development.
Others were former Director of Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, erstwhile Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, a security expert, Abayomi Mumuni and Leader of Disciples of Jagaban (DOJ), Abdulhakeem Alawuje.
Kwankwaso said the insecurity we face does not distinguish based on religious, ethnic, or political beliefs.’
He added in a statement that it was ” important to emphasise that our country is a sovereign nation whose people face different threats from outlaws in the country.”
The statement partly reads: ”The U.S should assist the Nigerian authorities with better cutting-edge technology to tackle these problems, rather than posing a threat that could further polarise our country.
”The Nigerian government should also consider appointing special envoys from its distinguished diplomats to engage the American government. In addition, it is necessary to appoint permanent ambassadors to represent Nigeria’s interests on the international stage.”
He advised Nigerians to emphasise unity of belonging over division.
Lamido, a one-time Foreign minister, emphasised that the development presents a moment for Nigerians to close ranks in the face of external provocation.
‘It is time for Nigerians of all creeds to unite around our sovereignty,” he said.
The former governor also advised ‘President Tinubu to invite past leaders for a meeting to discuss and find a way around this dangerous development.’
He urged former presidents and heads of state to put aside personal and political differences and work with the administration to prevent any escalation.
‘Our former presidents and heads of state are eminently positioned to engage the U.S. and President Trump in an all-out quiet diplomacy, outside the media realm, to resolve whatever concerns the U.S. may have,’ Lamido added.
Amachree, who advised the Federal Government to be wary of the presence of foreign troops on ”our soil,” recalled how Washington’s interventions in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Libya left them shattered.
Amachree said: ‘The U.S plans to send troops to wipe out the foreign bandits, who are kidnapping and killing Christians in the North. Fair and good, as our politicians have not allowed our military and security agencies to wipe them out once and for all.
‘However, the Nigerian government should be wary of the presence of foreign troops on its soil. American intervention in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Libya has left those countries into tatters
‘This is not a love for Nigeria, but a wake-up call for our government to do the right thing by eliminating these foreign bandits threatening our country.”
Soludo, who dismissed the claim of Christian genocide, said it was wrong to give religious colouration to the insecurity in the country.
He used the Southeast to justify his position when he featured on a national television programme.
The governor argued that it was wrong for the U.S to threaten the deployment of troops in another sovereign state.
But he expressed confidence that this ”Trump’s outbursts will end in conversation on the international level.’
Soludo said: ‘I do not think any country has the power to do such to another sovereign state. Yes, if Nigeria requests any military assistance or whatever it deems necessary, maybe a request for their technology, hardware, soft power, to deal with insurgents and banditry, and so on.
‘But it’s within Nigeria’s call. I’m not quite sure anybody would (wake up and deploy military might to another independent country).
‘I mean, if you have policemen killing some blacks, I remember the massive #BlackLivesMatter protests in America, and somebody would say, Africa should go and invade America, because it matters.
‘I’m not quite sure, and that is the way it goes. I am sure the Federal Government will be able to respond very robustly on behalf of Nigeria. Nigeria is a big country as well, and the Federal Government is doing quite a lot to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians.
‘Like I said before, this conversation about banditry and killing requires a deeper national conversation and introspection.’
In a lengthy post on X, Fani-Kayode criticised the statements by Trump, saying they posed a grave danger to Nigeria’s sovereignty and stability.
He shared the reaction of a friend who, while condemning the comments, said Nigeria must see the development as a wake-up call for its leaders and citizens to defend their nation and rethink their dependence on foreign powers.
The former minister accused some foreign governments of double standards, saying they overlook acts of aggression in other parts of the world while unfairly labelling Nigerians.
He argued that such narratives, if unchecked, could harm the country’s image and stability.
Referring to his earlier essay, ‘Christian Genocide and the Danger of Mischaracterisation,’ Fani-Kayode advised the government not to rely on comforting statements from friendly officials abroad but to remain alert to the intentions of more hardline voices.
A security expert, Mumuni, who called on President Trump to re-evaluate his decision on Nigeria,’ emphasised that ‘our security crisis is driven by cross border terrorist networks rather than internal religious conflicts.”
Mumuni, in a statement by his media aide, Rasheed Abubakar, said Trump and his team needed to adopt a more nuanced and informed approach, focusing on the underlying causes of violence in Nigeria.
Mumuni, an APC chieftain, cautioned against framing Nigeria’s security crisis solely through a religious lens, stressing that violence has affected Christians and Muslims.
According to him, ‘indiscriminate killings in Nigeria impact all communities-Christian and Muslim alike. Labelling such attacks based on religion not only distorts the facts but also fuels division and hostility.’
He, however, implored the Federal Government to take steps to formally designate the ‘bandits’ and their supporters as terrorists.
‘By officially labelling these groups as terrorists, Nigeria signals its readiness to confront the grave threat of terrorism head-on, while opening the door to strategic global partnerships and aid,” the security expert said.
DOJ Leader, Alawuje, urged Nigerians and the international community to disregard what he described as ‘divisive and false narratives’ by the U.S aimed at destabilising the country.
Alawuje said Nigeria’s challenges were socio-economic, not religious.
”There is no religious war in Nigeria. What we are witnessing is the age-long struggle between the elite and the masses, between the rich and the poor. It has never been about Christians versus Muslims,’ he said.
He alleged that some global powers were uncomfortable with Nigeria’s growing independence and reform trajectory, claiming that such discomfort was behind attempts to paint the country as a religiously divided nation.
The Lagos State chapter of the APC condemned what it described as a ‘dangerous and disgraceful’ trend among opposition elements allegedly calling for a U.S-led invasion of Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its spokesman, Seye Oladejo, the APC said such comments reveal the desperation and frustration of those who lost at the polls and wish to see the country descend into chaos.
According to the party, the idea of seeking foreign military intervention is not only delusional but also treasonous.
The APC described those promoting the notion as ‘traitors to the flag and enemies of the republic,’ emphasising that history only remembers nation builders, not those who ‘beg for invasion.’
It accused the opposition of allowing their political heartbreak to turn into ‘treasonous daydreams’ that threaten national stability.
Reaffirming its commitment to defending Nigeria’s sovereignty and supporting President Tinubu’s administration, the party said it was unfortunate that ‘nation builders are working while nation wreckers are tweeting.’
NCYP commends Tinubu
The Northern Christian Youth Professionals (NCYP) also urged President Tinubu to take proactive steps to ensure the US decision does not inflame religious tension or undermine peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, especially in the North.
It called for calm and constructive dialogue, warning that neglecting domestic engagement could worsen the situation.
The group said rising social media reactions already point to the need for deliberate efforts to prevent misunderstanding or violence in sensitive communities.
The NCYP, in a statement, recalled that it had, along with the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Matthew Kukah, appealed to the U.S. government not to list Nigeria as a CPC.
‘Unfortunately, President Trump has still gone ahead and listed Nigeria; as such, we must not allow this fear to turn into reality,’ it said while hailing President Tinubu for the ongoing efforts to stem insecurity in the country.’
The group, however, expressed concern that many Northern governors have remained silent on the development, describing the moment as a clarion call on them to rally with the President and relevant stakeholders to preserve interfaith peace.
NCYP stressed that northern leaders must prioritise dialogue and grassroots sensitisation in flashpoint communities, warning that external narratives should not be allowed to distort Nigeria’s internal peace and religious tolerance.
It reaffirmed its commitment to promoting unity, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence across Nigeria, urging all citizens to ‘resist divisive rhetoric and focus on building a just and inclusive society.’