Senate to seek harmonised response with Tinubu on Trump’s threat

The Senate has said that it will meet with President Bola Tinubu and the executive arm to deliberate on the diplomatic tension triggered by United States President Donald Trump’s recent threat and his controversial allegation of genocide in the country.

Trump’s remarks, which followed America’s designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” over alleged religious persecution, have sparked outrage within diplomatic circles and raised concerns about possible strain in bilateral relations between the two nations.

Speaking during plenary on Tuesday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the issue borders on foreign policy and international diplomacy, and therefore requires a harmonised national position rather than a hasty legislative reaction.

He said, “We have not discussed the issue of President Trump yet in chambers.

We shall do so in collaboration with the executive because we believe it is a matter of foreign policy and diplomatic relations. I have refrained from taking any motion on that yet until we know the direction of government and what the government intends to do.”

The Senate President faulted Trump’s comments, saying they were based on “an outdated report from 2010” that no longer reflects Nigeria’s security realities.

“The position that President Trump is taking is not based on the current realities,” he said.

The position is based on a purported 2010 report, 15 years ago, that they said some people came on fact-finding from the US Congress, and they went to only Plateau and Benue; they did not go to Zamfara and other areas.”

Akpabio stressed that Nigeria’s security challenges are not religiously motivated, insisting that both Christians and Muslims have suffered equally from terrorist and bandit attacks.

“If you go to a predominantly Muslim community, terrorists and bandits cause you to kill people — the majority of those who die there will be Muslims. When you enter a predominantly Christian community like Benue and Plateau and then you cause mayhem, the majority of those who will die there will be Christians,” he explained.

He said Nigeria’s diversity should be seen as a unifying force, not a source of division.

“Nigeria’s problem needs to be weighed from all sides, and all we are looking for is peace,” Akpabio added.

“There is no Nigerian that doesn’t want to sleep with his two eyes closed, and there is no Nigerian that does not live with a Muslim or Christian in his house. Nigeria is multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and we live with one another.

“When people take issues out of Nigeria and misrepresent them to create the impression that Christians and Muslims are fighting, it is totally untrue.”