The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Udenta Udenta, says U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threat to intervene militarily in Nigeria should serve as a wake-up call for the Federal Government to urgently address insecurity.
Udenta, in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme Sunrise Daily, said Trump’s statement, though harsh, had forced Nigeria’s leadership to take renewed action.
“It’s a wake-up call. One of the positives of this brash statement of ‘guns-a-blazing’ and ‘disgraced country.
“It has now re-mobilised our national engine rooms. The President has started holding meetings with critical stakeholders in the Villa,” he said on Monday.
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He noted that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration had often failed to lead from the front on security matters.
“Sometimes, if you don’t lead, others will compel you to lead. For years, this President and his team have refused to lead from the front on insecurity,” Udenta stated.
‘Compelling Pressure’
According to him, Trump’s remarks had applied pressure on the Nigerian leadership to take decisive steps.
“External pressure can serve as a wake-up call. If you can’t do it yourself, others may compel you to do it. If you can’t look at the mirror solidly in your locale, someone else will help you do so,” he said.
Udenta described Trump’s rhetoric as an exercise of “the bully pulpit power” of the American presidency, which, he said, “is enormous.”
He added that such external pressure could also mobilise citizens towards national unity in confronting insecurity.
Udenta, however, lamented that Nigeria’s internal security architecture had collapsed.
“The peace architecture of the state is horrifying today. It has virtually broken down into pieces and must be reconstituted,” he said.
He also criticised the inactivity within the foreign ministry, noting that the recent mobilisation of ambassadors showed the country was only now awakening.
Udenta supported the recent call by Pastor Enoch Adeboye, urging the Nigerian government to take urgent and coordinated action.
Meanwhile, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Friday urged President Tinubu to eliminate terrorists within 90 days.
Adeboye emphasised that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity required immediate and decisive attention. He advised the President to engage with Trump diplomatically and persuade him to delay any planned military action for 100 days.
He stressed that the government must expose and eliminate the sponsors of terrorism, regardless of their influence.
Trump’s Order
Last week, the U.S. military began drafting contingency plans for possible airstrikes in Nigeria.
The report said President Trump had directed the Pentagon to “prepare to intervene” to protect Christians from terrorist attacks.
It stated that the U.S. Africa Command had submitted operational options, ranging from “light” to “heavy,” to the Department of Defense.
The “heavy” option involves deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf of Guinea with fighter jets and long-range bombers.
The “medium” option centres on using MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predator drones for targeted strikes on insurgent camps and convoys. The “light” plan focuses on intelligence sharing, logistics, and joint operations with Nigerian forces.
U.S. officials reportedly acknowledged that limited airstrikes may not end Nigeria’s insurgency unless followed by a full-scale campaign, an approach Washington is not currently pursuing.
Trump had earlier threatened on Truth Social to send American forces into Nigeria with “guns-a-blazing” if attacks on Christians continued.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians. The U.S.A. will stop all aid and may go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists,” he said,
Tinubu has since dismissed Trump’s claim that Nigeria is hostile to Christians.
In a statement he personally signed, Tinubu said the description “does not reflect our national reality and explained that his administration had maintained open engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders since 2023 to address security challenges.
The President also expressed readiness to work with the United States and the international community to protect communities of all faiths.
The ongoing diplomatic row and heightened discussions on national security have since sparked widespread reactions across the country, dominating public discourse over the past two weeks.
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