Activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threat of military action in Nigeria, warning that such foreign intervention historically leads to greater chaos.
Trump stated on social media that he is considering deploying U.S. forces to Nigeria if the government did not stop what he called the killing of Christians by Islamist groups.
In response, Sowore took to X (formerly Twitter) to caution Nigerians against seeing Trump’s statement as supportive. He argued that U.S. military actions have a track record of destabilizing nations.
“The latest threat by US President Donald Trump to launch military action in Nigeria, allegedly to protect Christians, may sound appealing to some. Still, history has shown this to be perilous,” he wrote.
Citing U.S. interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Sowore stated that such actions left nations “more unstable than before.”
He emphasized that Nigeria’s solutions must come from within, not from foreign forces. “What Nigeria truly needs is not a foreign saviour, but legitimate, accountable leadership,” he stated, adding that Trump’s concern was politically motivated, not compassionate.
“Donald Trump does not care about Nigerians, not Christians, Muslims, or anyone else. Our deliverance will never come from abroad,” Sowore concluded.
This followed Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged religious persecution. In a separate reaction, President Bola Tinubu’s administration rejected the claim, insisting that Nigeria is a constitutional democracy that protects religious freedom and that the description “does not reflect our national reality.”
Nigeria was first placed on this U.S. list in 2020 under Trump and removed a year later by President Joe Biden.
Leave a comment