By Lamara Garba-Azare
President Donald Trump’s threat to invade Nigeria over alleged “Christian killings” has sent tremors far beyond diplomatic corridors, revealing a dangerous double standard in global morality. While Washington threatens to brandish the sword in Nigeria, it remains silent or worse, actively complicit over Israeli attacks that have claimed thousands of Palestinian lives, including Christians.
Indeed, this selective outrage by the US is not just hypocrisy; it is a mirror reflecting the perilous dance of power, where might masquerades as right, and morality bends to political expedience.
Therefore, Trump’s words, bolstered by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee’s clearance for punitive steps, are more than empty rhetoric, instead, they are a reckless trumpet call that threatens the sanctity of national sovereignty.
To suggest that the United States could intervene “guns-a-blazing” in a country of over 200 million people is to treat a sovereign nation as if it were a playground for foreign experiments. Nigeria is no pawn, no weakling in need of salvation; it is a proud nation, steeped in history, culture, and resilience. It should be noted that the United Nations Charter is not a parchment of convenience, rather it is a covenant, declaring that no nation may trespass on another without cause or international mandate.
Perhaps, threatening Nigeria flagrantly disregards this moral compass and challenges the very order of the civilized world.
The hypocrisy on display is breathtaking. America professes outrage over alleged “Christian cleansing” in Nigeria while standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel in the bombardment of Palestinian lands, where civilians including men, women, children, and both Muslims as well as Christians have perished under the weight of unrelenting violence. Weapons, funding, and diplomatic shields flow freely, yet when confronted with the plight of ordinary Nigerians facing a web of insecurity, Washington brandishes moral judgment as a cudgel. The moral ledger is unbalanced, the scales tipped not by justice but by political convenience.
If true concern for human life guided America’s hand, it would speak with the same voice for Gaza, the West Bank, Sudan. Yemen, and beyond. Yet Nigeria, a nation grappling with Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, and extremist groups that have taken lives across religious and ethnic lines, becomes the stage for selective indignation. Christians and Muslims alike have bled; the land itself is a witness to centuries of struggle. Conflicts over land, resources, climate pressures, and governance failures intertwine to produce tragedies that cannot be reduced to a single, convenient narrative. To call this merely “Christian cleansing” is to see the world in black and white when it is painted in shades of complexity.
Congressman Chris Smith’s testimony, portraying Nigeria’s crisis as a one-sided religious assault, is a reminder of how stories can be twisted into weapons. Claims that militants act with impunity while the government turns a blind eye ignore ongoing efforts by Nigerian authorities, security agencies, and local communities striving to restore peace.
Oversimplification in the service of foreign political narratives is a sword that cuts both truth and trust, leaving Nigeria exposed to interference and destabilization.
It should be noted that sanctions and threats of military action will not heal wounds; rather, they will deepen them. They will shatter livelihoods, stoke fear, and empower the very extremists they purport to punish.
At the moment, Nigeria needs partners who build, not pawns who strike; guidance, not guns. Long-term collaboration, intelligence-sharing, and governance reforms are the true instruments of peace which are far more potent than the hollow clatter of foreign threats.
Therefore, President Trump’s words cross a red line drawn in the sand of history. Nigeria must rise to defend its sovereignty, calling on ECOWAS, the African Union, and global allies to repel threats cloaked in morality. No nation should be forced to bow to external whims, nor treated as a laboratory for foreign experiments. Pride, history, and destiny demand that Nigeria speak with one voice: sovereignty is non-negotiable.
African nations carry scars from centuries of external meddling from colonial plunder to post-independence interventions disguised as “humanitarian missions.”
Therefore, Nigeria, the giant of Africa, cannot permit the ghosts of history to dictate the present. To threaten invasion while excusing or supporting violence elsewhere is not merely hypocrisy it is moral decay, a reminder that power untempered by principle is a poison to civilization.
Certainly, the United States’ selective advocacy for human rights exposes a philosophical contradiction. Threatening military action in Nigeria under the guise of protecting Christians while remaining silent or complicit in the deaths of Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, strips its moral authority of legitimacy. Israel’s campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank have claimed countless lives, yet Washington provides shield and sword in equal measure. To pivot that same moral outrage on Nigeria while ignoring these truths is not justice, but it is pretense.
There is no gain saying the fact that Nigeria’s challenges are formidable, but the solution lies within, not in the thunder of foreign boots. Threats, sanctions, and coercion are a windstorm that will uproot communities and spread chaos. What Nigeria needs are bridges of cooperation, pillars of support, and hands extended in partnership, not clenched fists in intimidation. To intervene is to ignite a fire; to assist wisely is to sow lasting peace.
Perhaps, to say the least, Trump’s threats should be seen as reckless and destabilizing, a dangerous echo of a time when force dictated morality and expediency eclipsed principle. In this case, Nigeria must assert its independence, protect its citizens, and insist on respect from foreign powers. Anything less would embolden aggression, invite instability, and send a chilling message across Africa: sovereignty is negotiable, and justice is selective.
The world cannot allow might to masquerade as right. It cannot permit the powerful to choose whose lives matter, whose cries merit attention, and whose suffering is ignored. Nigeria stands at a crossroads: it must defend its dignity, assert its sovereignty, and demand consistency in the moral universe. The time for courage, clarity, and unity is now, lest silence and hesitation embolden those who mistake power for virtue.
*Lamara Garba Azare writes from Kano*
