Trump’s rhetoric may have escalated insecurity in Nigeria, Omojuwa tells US senator

Japheth Omojuwa, an author and political commentator, says US President Donald Trump’s remarks on Nigeria may have led to an upsurge in insecurity in the country. 

He added that he did not share the notion that Nigerian Christians feel reassured by Trump’s offer of protection from “persecution”.

Omojuwa offered his perspective while posing a question to Kevin Cramer, US senator, at the three-day Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.

Omojuwa is a member of the Halifax Forum board.

Before the influencer’s comments, Cramer said Christians in Nigeria today are probably feeling “pretty good” about Trump’s position.

Trump had threatened to send US troops “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria, a country he called “disgraced”, to wipe out the “Islamist terrorists” he said were killing Christians.

In a clip of his response to Cramer shared on X on Monday, Omojuwa said he offered a different view because he speaks as a Christian living in Nigeria.

“I do not feel good about Donald Trump. He called Nigeria a disgraced country. Frankly speaking, that’s not so bad, because he used to call us a shit hole country. So it’s a kind of improvement,” Omojuwa said.

He followed by asking if powerful nations could offer assistance more respectfully, and without doing so in a way that leaves others worse off.

“For instance, America went to Libya. Libya has a causative effect on the terrorism challenges Nigeria and the Sahel are facing. I don’t want to talk about the other places America went to. Let’s just take it to Nigeria,” he added.

“Since Donald Trump said what he said for Nigerian Christians, Christians have been abducted in the church in the north-west of Nigeria.

“Muslim students have been abducted. I do not speak to the causation but there’s a correlation from the point Donald Trump spoke about Nigeria’s challenges and the escalation of terrorism.

“So decency apart, there are rules of engagement, there’s a rules based global order. Is there a way to speak about Nigeria, first of all, in a respectful, decent way, not even just as president of America, but as a human being?”

Omojuwa also pointed to the failed arms deal between the US and Nigeria as playing a role in the weakened fight against terrorism.

“Is there a way to decently help Nigeria without making things worse and without disrespecting Nigerian Christians and Muslims?” he asked.

The US senator replied in the affirmative.

“The right words help. A more delicate way of saying something is obviously better than a more brutal way,” Cramer said.

“A lot of people will say the right thing and do the wrong thing. Other people will maybe say the wrong thing and mean to do the right thing. Is there a better way to say? Certainly.”

However, the senator said he believed that foreign aid assistance would be more effective in stemming terrorism, noting that he had publicly disagreed with Trump multiple times on the aid cuts.

“I think, globally speaking, aid to friends, and would-be friends, and possible friends is a bargain compared to munitions,” he said.

Cramer also posited that assistance would need to suit local contexts.