Amidu Sanni has described President Donald Trump’s invasion rhetoric against Nigeria as “the misadventure of a reckless outburst”, but says Nigerian leader Bola Tinubu courted the trouble.
Mr Sanni, the former chief imam of Lagos State University, said this in an interview on Sunday in Lagos. The cleric, however, added that the impending invasion could be prevented if the government acted with urgency.
The Trump administration recently re-designated Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’. Mr Sanni noted that it was ironic to turn a sudden human rights activist while ignoring the massacres in Gaza or Sudan.
“The sleepless nights being ‘enjoyed’ or suffered by the Nigerian government are self-inflicted; they are the outcome of systemic failure,” the cleric pointed out.
According to him, the failures include poor international relations and an uncoordinated security architecture.
He added that they also involve weak media engagement by state actors locally and internationally, as well as mischievous or uninformed interpretations by local and foreign non-state actors. He added that the pervasive, senseless killings ravaging Nigeria over the years—especially since the Boko Haram onslaught in 2000—had claimed lives irrespective of faith.
Mr Sanni blamed the systemic failures of successive civilian administrations since the 1999 return to democracy for their inability to address economic, political, and security challenges, which he said were at the root of the killings across the country.
He noted that the failure of state and non-state actors to tackle security challenges had fueled banditry, kidnapping, illegal mining, diversion of security funds, and impunity for offenders.
“Trump becoming more Catholic than the Pope, or more Anglican/Protestant than the Archbishop of Canterbury, should be rightly seen in light of the economic reforms being pushed by the Nigerian government in the oil and financial sectors,” he said.
The cleric added, “These reforms are dislodging the American and Western stranglehold on our economy and denying free petro-dollars and unearned foreign exchange to the round-tripping bourgeoisie who had hitherto enjoyed free funds and influence.
“Trump’s proclaimed war threat is simply economic and political. Unfortunately, some of our religious opinion leaders seem to endorse Trump’s suicidal and less-than-altruistic military or missionary misadventure. Many people fail to realise that war is not about who is right, but who is left after the bitter engagements.”
He also criticised the government’s diplomatic lapses, noting that Nigeria had yet to appoint substantive ambassadors to key world capitals almost three years into the current administration.
“That the president has not fully utilised international platforms such as the UN General Assembly and the G20 to tell Nigeria’s true story and rebrand our economic and political profiles is unacceptable,” he said.
Mr Sanni, however, faulted the government’s media strategy, saying the presidency has not institutionalised periodic presidential parleys with local and international media, a gap that, he noted, has worsened misinformation about the country.
He urged the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to jointly tell the world that Muslims and Christians in the country stand united against all violations of human rights.
(NAN)
