A former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines and veteran broadcaster, Dr. Yemi Farounbi, and a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP,Chief Bode George, have warned President Bola Tinubu against visiting President Donald Trump of the United States of America (USA) on the issue of threat over alleged killings of Christians in Nigeria.
The two elder statesmen urged Tinubu to revitalise the country’s social and security architecture.
Reacting to the Friday’s threat by Trump to take military action against Nigeria which he christened “a country of particular concern”, over killing of Christians, Farounbi said it was a manifestation of “lack of respect for African nations”. George however said that the threat was not actually caused by religious bigotry but lack of social security which deserves urgent attention from Tinubu.They spoke on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese Ijebu “Frontline” programme monitored by Morning Star News.
Farounbi said President Tinubu must avoid actions that portray Nigeria as seeking validation from leaders who have little regard for Africa’s dignity, maintaining that Trump’s recent rhetoric on Nigeria and his past policies towards the continent showed a lack of respect for African nations,” insisting that “Tinubu should not go and meet Trump.”
According to him, “Nigeria’s president represents the souls of over 200 million people. He should not visit anyone who once called African nations ‘shithole countries.’ We must act like a sovereign nation that values itself, not one begging to be recognised.”
While laying some fault on the doorstep of the Federal Government however, the former envoy said, “We cannot claim we didn’t see this coming. For years, Catholic bishops from Benue and Plateau States have appeared before the U.S. Congress and European Parliament, presenting statistics of Christians killed by militants, yet Nigeria offered no strong counter-narrative.
He also noted that Nigeria had not maintained a full-fledged Ambassador in Washington for years, leaving the country’s image undefended. To him, “Our story was never told officially and so such diplomatic negligence allowed foreign lobbyists and politicians to define Nigeria as intolerant and unsafe”.
On his part, George said that Trump’s threat was “an early warning shot, emphasising that “as a Naval Officer, I interpret it as a warning shot. First, I was shocked when President Trump made the statement and the next thing was the Secretary of State who also made a comment; and the Secretary of Defence also making a comment. That was what gripped me. I will plead with the managers of our country because what is going on now is like the APC using some disgruntled people to destabilise the political stability in the country. To be frank, I expect the security agencies to have a quick meeting because either some people are trying to undermine the country or the information is not quite right.
“In western Nigeria, the issue of religious bigotry has never been a problem. Because hardly will you find any household that will not have Christmas, Muslims and traditionalists in our area here. The programme we had in Borno State at that time suddenly just erupted and went on till the end of President Jonathan’s time. You remember kidnap of the Chibok girls and all those things that were going on. That is issue has not yet been cleared cos the American Military were also part of it but they pulled out because they couldn’t understand what we were trying to do. Maybe, it is still that information that is resonating on the table of the President.
“In the household of President Bola Tinubu, his wife is a Christian while he is a Muslim. So, what are we fighting for? And for the first time in the history of this country, we chose the Vice President who is a Muslim and he is also a Muslim. Personally, I don’t see any problem. Maybe the way we have been managing our religious practice is not optimal. We have stated severally that the best option is to establish State Police to effectively help the national police because they are not enough considering the population of Nigeria, so populous with our differences in language, in dialect and culture”.
While claiming that the British colonialists left two evils when they were leaving Nigeria: tribalism and religious bigotry, Chief George urged the Federal Government to appoint Ambassadors who would have discussed and given inside information about what is going on in Nigeria with the American government.
He said:”This is two years without Ambassadors for the country. So, President Trump’s complaint is a wakeup call. Maybe Trump saw the serious kidnappings and other heinous crimes as a religious matter.
“But the cause of these is nothing but lack of employment; lack of adequate understanding of the Gen Z generation where many of them are graduating but still staying in their Papa’s houses without jobs, without training. Education makes people easy to government, but absolutely impossible to deceive. There is hunger in the land and so therefore there is anger in the land. What is going on in Nigeria is not regular: there is hardship. And you see some governors defecting to the APC and quoting Oshiomhole, ‘once you come to our party, your sins are forgiven’. That is arrant nonsense! We need to wake up. So, President Trump’s utterance is a warning shot”.
