Shehu Sani, a former senator from Kaduna Central, has criticised US President Donald Trump for threatening to send troops into Nigeria to stop the claimed genocide against Christians there.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social that the United States “may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists” is directly addressed in Sani’s response, which was uploaded on X on Monday.
The human rights advocate specifically rejected the President’s portrayal of the nation as a “now disgraced country,” basing his denunciation on an appeal to historical accountability and national pride.
“We’ll all be gone one day. Our children and grandkids, among other future generations, will read all we posted and enquire as to our positions on the pressing and contentious issues of our day.
He resisted being called a “disgraced country,” claiming that Nigeria had no history of colonisation or significant foreign invasion, in contrast to several other countries.
“My country is not and will never be a ‘disgraced country,'” he declared. He will not accept his land being referred to as “disgraced” if he is proud of his mother, who gave birth to him in his ancestral land after months of labour.
We are not a country that has ever invaded, colonised, or enslaved another country or nations, rained bombs on them, murdered millions of people, or looted their resources. We cannot be referred to as “disgraced” if we have no such record against other nations.
Nigeria will “welcome any support and assistance to our security forces that will help in crushing and annihilating terrorists in our country,” Sani said, admitting the country’s security crisis and pointing out that it “has been facing security challenges in the last 16 years.”
Additionally, he called on the Nigerian government to “increase efforts to safeguard our nation, which is the only one in which we can live without a visa or request for one.”
“As a Democrat, I respect those who hold different views, but I will never agree with them and want history to record them as proponents of foreign aggression.”
Additionally, he called Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to alleged persecution “falsehood and misinformation,” stating that bandits and terrorists target citizens “irrespective of their religious beliefs” rather than victims based on their faith.