THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, disclosed that the recent threat by US President Donald Trump to invade Nigeria to ‘fight’ terrorists was a decoy to mask his displeasure over President Bola Tinubu’s stance on matters of public interest.

Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi, maintained that the claim that the Federal Government is complicit in bandits’ killing of Christians in Nigeria was not only unfounded, but an attempt to ‘give a dog a bad name to have a justification to kill it’.

Insisting that there are extraneous reasons behind the stand of the American President, Afenifere stated that the major reason for the posture was economic.

“By sounding so harsh, Mr Trump hopes to get President Tinubu to negotiate with him with a view to having more inroads into Nigeria’s economy and to possibly force Nigeria to buy more goods, especially weapons, from America. Nigeria’s recent rapport with China does not seem to go down well with the US.

“Besides, some interests in America do not like the principled positions being taken by the Bola Tinubu administration on some issues”, Ajayi said.

The Afenifere spokesman said that Nigeria is a sovereign country, adding that “the matter at hand falls within the purview of what the government can and should deal with. And government, through its various security arms, is not resting on its oars. It is working on insecurity. Government can do more, certainly. The change of security chiefs is one of the steps being taken by Mr. President to buckle up on security.”

In addition, he said: “It is a known fact that the claim of genocide against Christians in Nigeria is not valid. Not that people are not being killed, the reality is that bandits and terrorists do not discriminate. Their target is the economy. Those funding them are interested in the mineral resources underground. So, they sponsor bandits to cause mayhem in places where they spot mineral resources. When the people in those areas are displaced, the ‘sponsors’ step in and begin to exploit the resources.

“It is not for nothing that he ordered that the Department of Defence in his country should be renamed ‘Department of War’. Thus, Nigerians should refrain from acting in a manner (or making a pronouncement) that those who may want to create theatres of war would have justifications for doing so”, he said.

He, however, warned against heating up the polity, saying, “When you deride your country, it is not always easy to undo the damage. As such, we should be mindful of what we say or write about our country. “There is no doubt that Nigeria needs all the help it can get to tackle its security challenges, etc. Threatening it with a war attack is not the way to help. If anything, such would escalate the already undesirable situation,” Ajayi stated.

Meanwhile, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, yesterday, urged Nigerians to defend the country and government against any form of external threat.

The Governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said this at the flag-off of the All Progressives Congress, APC, e-registration hands-on device/application held at Lagos House, Marina.

Reacting to Trump’s threat to launch a military incursion, the governor said: “The Dangote 650,000 barrel per day of refining capacity must be protected, the billions of dollars expended is not a joke.

“We all said we should sign the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, in this country. What are they doing now? So those refineries in San Francisco that are now empty because we are refining here. But it’s not our fight.

“Our President is taking the right decisions. People who don’t understand will criticise him, but let us go out there and be proud and defend this government. They are doing the right things. As we do it, God will continue to be with us.”

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