Bayo Onanuga: Turaki’s call for Trump to save Nigeria’s democracy is high treason

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has criticised Kabiru Turaki, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

On Tuesday, the new chairman of a faction of the PDP asked US President Donald Trump to intervene in the party’s festering crisis.

BACKGROUND

Addressing the press after securing entry into the PDP headquarters in Abuja, following a prolonged confrontation between supporters of rival factions, Turaki appealed for help from abroad.

He asked Trump and the international community to save Nigeria’s democracy from collapse.

“I want to call on President Trump; what is at stake is not just genocide against Nigerian Christians,” Turaki had said.

“He should come and save democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is under threat. I’m calling on all other developed nations: come and save Nigeria, come and save democracy.”

‘HIGH TREASON’

Onanuga said Turaki’s appeal will never be forgotten.

“We shall never forget this video: the day a Nigerian politician committed high treason for calling for a foreign invasion of Nigeria, all because of an intra-party dispute,” the president’s aide wrote.

Two weeks ago, Trump threatened military action in Nigeria if the federal “government continues to allow the killing of Christians”.

The US leader had promised to go into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”.

MAYHEM AT PDP HEADQUARTERS

Chaotic scenes played out at the PDP headquarters on Tuesday as police fired teargas to break up clashes between supporters from opposing camps.

The Nyesom Wike-aligned bloc and the newly elected national working committee (NWC) led by Turaki had scheduled separate meetings at Wadata Plaza for the same day.

Turaki accused Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), of deploying thugs armed with cudgels who gathered at the gate and sang protest songs.

He also claimed that police officers protected persons responsible for the disorder.

Samuel Anyanwu, national secretary of the Wike faction, arrived with his group for their planned board of trustees (BoT) and national executive committee (NEC) meetings.

Police struggled to control an increasingly rowdy crowd before eventually ordering everyone out of the premises.

Officers later fired teargas as supporters from both camps traded blows outside the building.