If Africa Followed Your Logic, We’d Have Invaded US; Soludo Fires Back At Trump
The governor of Anambra, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo says Nigeria’s security challenges are more complex than a Christian versus Muslim conflict.
Speaking during a media chat on Sunday, Soludo said President Donald Trump’s threat to “protect Christians in Nigeria” oversimplifies the issues.
He said while the US has the right to hold opinions on global matters, any form of intervention must respect international law and Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“As a country, America has its own rights to have its own views about what is going on elsewhere,” he said.
“But when it comes to what it does, I am sure it must also act within the realm of international law.”
The governor said the Nigerian government should engage in a “deeper conversation” to address the concerns raised, adding that facts must be properly presented.
According to Soludo, most of the killings in the south-east are not driven by religion but by internal conflicts.
“People are killing themselves — Christians killing Christians,” he said.
“The people in the bushes are Emmanuel, Peter, John — all Christian names — and they have maimed and killed thousands of our youths. It has nothing to do with religion.”
He said if Nigeria were to seek foreign assistance, it should be through formal requests for military support, technology, or hardware, not external threats.
Soludo dismissed any talk of invasion, saying the same logic would be absurd if African nations threatened to invade the US over racial violence.
“You had policemen killing some blacks… I remember the #BlackLivesMatter protest, and somebody would say maybe Africa should go and invade America because blacks are being killed? I’m not quite sure,” he said.
He added that national dialogue is the best path forward.
“I think there is a need for deeper conversation,” he said.
“It must end in conversation, and I am sure the government of Nigeria will respond very robustly. Nigeria is such a big country, and the government is doing a whole lot to safeguard it.”
Soludo, who is seeking re-election next Saturday, noted that the south-east is predominantly Christian and that the crisis in the region should not be mischaracterised.
“In this part of the country, we are 95 percent Christian,” he said.
“The people in the bushes killing others bear Christian names; it is wider than the categorisation of Christians and Muslims. Nigeria will overcome, and it will end in conversation.”
