By Jeremiah Emmanuel, Abuja
Those fuming over United States of America President Donald Trump statement saying that Nigeria is a country of particular concern over the continuous annihilation of Christians in the country, is worrisome.
It is a common knowledge that over the years, Nigeria has been grappling with insecurity that has consumed many lives. It started like a small religious movement in Borno State that has metamorphosed into multiple bands of blood-thirsty murderer across the country with more visibility in northern Nigeria.
The Nigeria government approach in tackling the insecurity has yielded little or no result over the years and this has discouraged myriad of Nigerians who lost their confidence on the government’s ability to surmount the situation.
The insecurity has however degenerated to a matter that got many wondering if this is an attempt to extinguish some ethnic or religious groups in the country. The situation became more worrisome following the dimension the attacks had taken that attracted the attention of the international communities following the wailing of the victims that the United States of America President Donald Trump has to wage into the situation.
The reactions and counter reactions from some Nigerians that greeted Trump’s bombshell necessitated this writing, as some of the reactions were apparently shocking that anyone could fumes and consider the statement as absurdity when evidence that supports this concern abound in the public space.
For instance, the story of the church demolished in Borno State under the guise of government road construction with no plan for reallocation or reconstruction of the demolished church is an evident suggesting government complacency in the whole gamut masquerading under some faceless religious deviants.
These worshippers of the demolished church structure said that they have government approval for the land and the church structure, but wondered why they were singled out among other structures in the area for demolition without any planned relocation or compensation.
They made it clear that they are not against the demolition of their structure and the construction of the road by the government, but decried that due process was not followed and the none plan for compensation, relocation and reconstruction of their place of worship.
In another development, the Chibok school girls that were kidnapped in Borno State by an Islamic terrorist group – Boko Haram, where almost all the girls were released, except for a young Christian girl, Leah Shaibu who refused to denounced her Christian faith that was forced to be a wife to one of her abductors.
How can anyone blame President Trump’s seeing Nigeria as ‘country of particular concern’ in respect of Christians freedom to worship, when the likes of Nasiru el-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna State – who built his political standing dint promoting religious intolerance – still roam our streets freely, making reckless statements. El-Rufai who sacked an entire traditional stool headed by a Christian – that has existed even before he was born – to create an emirate, he didn’t respect the mood and the feelings of the people.
Another point of reference is the killings in Plateau and Benue states, these and many other examples have sparked the suspicion that this may be a tactical push for extinction of the Christian population in Nigeria with particular interest in these states. The two states are predominantly Christian populated in the north-central part of Nigeria and the attacks are executed mostly on periods Christians observe their rituals, one example was the attack on a community in Bokkos local government area of Plateau State on the Christmas eve of 2024 .
Unleashing unprovoked attacks on unarmed populations on the yule was absurd and evil, and fuel this concern.
Similarly, the young Christian girl from Niger State – Deborah Samuel – that was gruesomely murdered in Sokoto State, under some spurious allegation of blasphemy against Muslims prophet Muhammad, where the former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar condemned the killing but abruptly deleted the post after he was threatened about his political ambition by some northern Nigeria population; Atiku denied authorising the post.
The statement by President Trump is a call on our leaders to wake from their slumber and to take a cursory look into the insecurity, and take a decisive approach to rebuild the confidence of the Christian population in the country and the international communities that this is not a tactical effort to extinguish the Christian population and some ethnic groups from Nigeria.
It is worthy to note that this article is not intended to play down on killings of other populations states like Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kebbi and other states of the federation affected. It is an effort to point to the fact that President Trump’s suspicion is not just malicious but a disturbing concerns that calls for robustly approach to put an end to the evil living with us.
Jeremiah is a social analyst and writes for Republican Interest from Abuja, Nigeria
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