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A former presidential candidate, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has called for an urgent reset of Nigeria’s foreign policy in the wake of the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Nigeria and the United States of America.
Olawepo-Hashim, who spoke on Wednesday, said the responsibility for the escalating tension over alleged Christian genocide lies squarely with the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and not with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is also facing political pressure from his domestic base.
Describing the situation as “a self-inflicted crisis,” Olawepo-Hashim said the diplomatic row reflects what he called the Tinubu administration’s “reckless and self-serving foreign policy,” which, according to him, places personal and partisan interests above Nigeria’s national security and international reputation.
“It is deeply troubling that, as we speak, Nigeria does not have ambassadors in many key countries,” he said. “The bi-national and bilateral commissions established to address pressing concerns on security and trade have collapsed for over a decade.”
Olawepo-Hashim, a veteran human rights activist and recipient of the 2009 Lord Max Beloff Prize in Global Affairs from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, lamented that the Federal Government has “paralysed institutional mechanisms for diplomacy” and now relies on “a motley crowd of poorly informed operatives and international outlaws pushing shady interests incoherently and dangerously.”
He described this approach as “a Janjaweed foreign policy, which is truly disgraceful and embarrassing.”
Recalling Nigeria’s former leadership role in African diplomacy, Olawepo-Hashim noted that the country once stood as a stabilising force on the continent, citing its contributions to peacekeeping efforts through ECOMOG and missions in Congo, Darfur, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. “Our current predicament is both tragic and disgraceful,” he said, adding that the erosion of Nigeria’s diplomatic capacity has damaged the country’s standing globally.
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The former presidential candidate also faulted attempts to dismiss reports of targeted killings in the country, describing such denials as “fundamentally faulty.”
“Which categories of Nigerians need to die in the staggering numbers we see before we acknowledge the evidence of complicity and failure to protect citizens?” he queried.
Olawepo-Hashim further accused loyalists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of committing human rights violations while the government looked away. He warned that recent open threats by political actors against groups of voters perceived not to support President Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections amount to international crimes under the Rome Statute, which Nigeria has ratified.
“These threats are directed at an ethnic group that predominantly practices one faith,” he said. “Such acts cannot be dismissed as internal affairs when Nigeria is a signatory to numerous international human rights conventions.”
Olawepo-Hashim, who was once designated a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International in 1989, called for an urgent national dialogue to design a new post-Tinubu framework for Nigeria’s national security and foreign policy.
“Genuine patriots must begin consultations to rebuild a framework that ensures peace, stability, and the preservation of Nigeria’s sovereignty,” he stated. “If the American initiative has become a catalyst for this necessary national reawakening, then it is a most welcome development.”
