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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Anthony Sani has dismissed as “untenable” US President Donald Trump’s alleged threat of war against Nigeria over claims of Christian genocide, saying the country’s insecurity cuts across religious and ethnic lines.
Sani also criticised America’s historical interventions in other nations, citing Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya as examples of failed foreign military engagements. “History does not support such an approach,” he said, adding that US intervention rarely solves the underlying problems.
In a statement made available to Sunday Sun, Sani argued that the killings of innocent citizens in Nigeria are not driven by religion but by diverse local factors that differ from region to region.
“In the North-East, which is predominantly Muslim, Boko Haram insurgents, mostly Muslims, kill fellow Muslims. In the North-West, bandits and kidnappers who are Hausa-Fulani Muslims also kill their own people,” he said.
According to him, in the North-Central zone, where violence is often linked to farmer-herder clashes, both Christians and Muslims have been victims. “Because the zone is predominantly Christian, the victims tend to be more Christians, but many of the attackers are also Christians and indigenes,” he added, citing the example of the late militia leader Terwase Akwaza (popularly known as Gana) in Benue State.
Sani also noted that insecurity in the South-East is largely driven by separatist activities, quoting Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo, who said that “over 99% of the killers of Igbos are Igbos.” Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, he added, has made similar observations about insecurity in the South-West. In the South-South, he said, the problem revolves around crude oil theft and militancy, describing it as a case where “Denegeld’s theory of rewarding bad behaviour has played out.”
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Given these varied causes, Sani maintained that it was misleading for the US to characterise the crisis as a Christian genocide. He blamed the narrative on “a failure of intelligence” by the US team that reportedly visited only the North-Central zone before reaching a sweeping conclusion.
He also condemned Trump’s reported threat to impose sanctions on twelve northern governors for operating Sharia law, noting that Sharia was introduced under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. “I see no wisdom in linking the Muslim-Muslim ticket or the practice of Sharia to any war threat, as Nigeria operates a multi-party democracy,” he said.
Sani warned that labelling the crisis as a Christian genocide could worsen tensions. “More Muslims have been killed than Christians. It makes no sense to push the narrative that only Christian lives matter. Such profiling could push moderate Muslims toward extremism and ignite sectarian conflict,” he cautioned.
Sani further addressed the recent removal of Nigeria’s Service Chiefs amid the nation’s escalating insecurity, describing it as “a routine exercise at the discretion of the President to rejig the security architecture.” He suggested that rumours of an attempted coup and concerns over the military’s intelligence capacity may have influenced the decision.
“What is more, there have been rumours of a coup, which naturally called into question the capacity of the Service Chiefs and intelligence community. Hence, the changes were necessary to prevent any crisis of confidence,” he added.
