Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric, has asked the federal government to sever ties with the United States if President Donald Trump fails to withdraw his threat of military action.
BACKGROUND
On Friday, Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of
particular concern” over claims of Christian genocide in the country.
Hours later, Trump threatened that the “USA will immediately
stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now
disgraced country ‘guns-a-blazing’, to completely wipe out the Islamic
Terrorists killing Christians”.
Subsequently, Pete Hegseth, US secretary of war, said his
department is preparing for possible military action if the Nigerian government
fails to end the “killing of innocent Christians” in the country.
A handful of right-wing US lawmakers, led by Ted Cruz, the
senator from Texas, have repeatedly claimed that Christians are facing
persecution in Nigeria.
In October, Cruz proposed the ‘Nigeria Religious Freedom
Accountability Act of 2025’, a legislation which seeks to hold Nigerian
government officials accountable for “facilitating the mass murder of
Christians”.
The proposed bill also calls for “targeted sanctions against
Nigerian officials who enforce Sharia and blasphemy laws”.
Cruz introduced the bill in early September, just weeks
before Trump signed a memo labelling views leaning towards anti-Americanism,
anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity as domestic terrorism.
‘SEVER TIES WITH UNITED STATES’
In a terse statement on Sunday, Gumi urged the federal
government to ask Trump to withdraw the threat, or else Nigeria would cut
diplomatic ties with his country.
“For Trump to threaten a sovereign country with military
attack is a profound disrespect to our authority, but we can rise above it,” he
wrote.
“President Tinubu should summon the US ambassador; they
either retract their threats or we sever diplomatic ties with this
irresponsible regime. There are lots of other options for our economic
expansion and military alliance.”
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