When Donald Trump’s administration designated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged religious intolerance, many Nigerians in ignorance celebrated it while the well informed Nigerians saw it as another Western manipulation, another smoke screen to mask deeper political and economic interests. For decades, Western nations have hidden behind moral slogans like “human rights,” “religious freedom,” and “counterterrorism” to justify their interference in other nations. Nigeria’s case is no different, for Western interest remains intact; to benefit the West and cage the rest. No two ways about it!
The United States, under Trump, claimed that the rising insecurity and killings in Nigeria were religiously motivated, painting a picture of Muslims killing Christians. But this narrative is deliberately false. The truth is far darker and far more political. The killings ravaging Nigeria have nothing to do with Islam versus Christianity. Muslims are being killed in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Niger States just as Christians are slaughtered in Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna. What unites these tragedies is not religion, but the Fulani ethnic domination project that has turned blood into politics and death into a strategy of control.
Some Fulani elite, backed by foreign interests, especially Britain, have weaponized ethnicity to conquer and control Nigeria’s political landscape. England, the same colonial power that built Nigeria on deceit and division, still fuels this domination for economic exploitation. The Fulani oligarchy remains loyal to the British design, serving as colonial proxies long after the Union Jack stopped flying over Lagos. Through this arrangement, England continues to extract from Nigeria without direct rule, while some Fulani political class maintains internal supremacy.
This is why every Nigerian government dominated by the Fulani elite conveniently looks away from the atrocities of herdsmen, bandits, and other violent groups. These killers are not religious warriors, they are ethnic expansionists backed by a political agenda to secure land, power, and loyalty for the Fulani nation across Nigeria. The Western media, complicit in spreading propaganda, reports this as “religious conflict,” never daring to call it what it is: a colonial project disguised as national crisis.
And America’s posture adds insult to injury. The same America that invaded Afghanistan in the name of fighting terrorism, toppled governments, and destroyed cities, eventually watched the Taliban, whom they claimed to fight return to power, stronger than ever. Twenty years of war, thousands of lives lost, trillions of dollars wasted, only for the Taliban to rule Afghanistan again. This is not irony but a hypocrisy of imperial arrogance.
If America were to “help” Nigeria in fighting terrorists today, Nigerians must beware of the same fate. The very group they claim to fight could end up ruling the country tomorrow. Because behind every Western intervention lies an invisible agenda, to destabilize, divide, and dominate. Afghanistan is the evidence. Libyans are still regretting supporting Western intervention in their land. Now, Isis is ruling Syria. Iraq is the evidence, taken over by the same al qaeda America went there to fight. Nigeria could be next.
The real solution to Nigeria’s bloodshed lies not in Washington, Paris, or London but in Abuja, Kaduna, and Maiduguri. Welcoming French soldiers to Nigeria will be the greatest error this government will ever make. Until Nigerians, especially the Northern and Southern masses, see beyond ethnic manipulation and foreign deceit, the Fulani domination project will continue to thrive under British supervision and Western silence.
Trump’s so called concern was never about saving lives; it was about sustaining control. England’s hand remains hidden in the Fulani glove. The danger is not Boko Haram’s bullet but some Fulani elite’s agenda and the West’s blessing behind it. America should be more concerned about the externally fueled atrocities in Congo and in Sudan and put a stop to them, if actually they are not behind the crisis.
Nigeria does not need America’s pity. Nigeria needs non conformist leaders who can defend truth, justice, fight corruption, and secure a clean break from England’s colonial shadow.
– Ambassador Ezewele Cyril Abionanojie is the author of the book ‘The Enemy Called Corruption’ an award winner of Best Columnist of the year 2020, Giant in Security Support, Statesmanship Integrity & Productivity Award Among others. He is the President of Peace Ambassador Global.