Rabiu Kwankwaso, the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 election, has urged the US President Donald Trump to assist Nigeria with weapons to fight insecurity.
According to a post on X, Kwankwaso said, “The United States 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.”
Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano state, was reacting to Donald Trump’s decision to add Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over a Christian genocide claim.
On Friday, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social that “Christians are facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
On Saturday, the US President then threatened to send US troops to Nigeria if the Federal Government of Nigeria did not address the issue. He puts the Ministry of War on alert on the matter.
Trump said, “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.”
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.”
However, Kwankwaso thinks the US should apply diplomacy, claiming the security threats cut across religious, political, and ethnic leanings.
“It is important to emphasise that our country is a sovereign nation whose people face different threats from outlaws across the country. The insecurity we face does not distinguish based on religious, ethnic, or political beliefs,” the NNPP chieftain’s post read.
“The Nigerian government should also consider appointing special envoys from its distinguished diplomats to engage the American government. Additionally, it is necessary to appoint permanent ambassadors to represent Nigeria’s interests on the international stage. To my fellow countrymen, this is an important moment where we should emphasise unity of belonging over division.”
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has dismissed the genocide claim, saying his administration respects every religion and maintains its commitment to religious freedom.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it recognise government efforts to safeguard freedom of religion and belief. “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” the president said.
On Sunday, the special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, on X, said Tinubu was planning to meet with the US President in the White House or Abuja to discuss the claim.
“As for the differences as to whether terrorists in Nigeria target only Christians or in fact all faiths and no faiths, the differences, if they exist, would be discussed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either in the State House or White House,” Bwala posted.
