Cooperation not threats: Nigeria wants US alliance to curb violent attacks

Lagos, Nigeria – For the past fewer weeks, Nigerian airwaves person been fixated connected United States President Donald Trump’s menace to invade the state “guns-a-blazing” implicit allegations of a “Christian genocide”.

Nigerian Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris Malagi has refuted Trump, telling Al Jazeera that portion the state is so facing information challenges, astir of the attacks are not driven by spiritual motives.

“Nigeria has a past of convulsive extremism that has created hostility for america successful the country, but I besides privation to constituent retired that mostly they don’t discriminate betwixt who is simply a Muslim oregon who is simply a Christian,” Malagi said.

“Christian communities and Muslim communities person been attacked by these extremists.”

Malagi explained that claims Christians are being specifically targeted bespeak a “lack of due knowing of the diverseness and complexity of the concern that we person successful Nigeria”.

On November 1, Trump posted connected his Truth Social platform, instructing the Department of Defense to hole for imaginable action, to which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied, “Yes sir.”

“I americium hereby instructing our Department of War to hole for imaginable action. If we attack, it volition beryllium fast, vicious, and sweet, conscionable similar the violent thugs onslaught our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” the station said, utilizing the department’s rechristened name.

The time before, connected October 31, Trump redesignated Nigeria arsenic a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), adding it backmost to a database of governments that the US considers to person engaged successful oregon tolerated violations of spiritual freedom. Nigeria was enactment connected the database during Trump’s archetypal word but was removed successful 2021 nether the Biden administration. Global powers similar China and Russia person besides been connected the CPC list. Being added to it tin pb to superior economical consequences, including sanctions and withdrawal of aid.

Abuja and galore Nigerians person refuted claims pushed for months by US figures similar Senator Ted Cruz that the Nigerian authorities is enabling a “massacre” against Christians.

“Nigeria is not a violator of spiritual freedom. Nigeria is simply a precise tolerant country, but we bash have, and we bash recognise, that we person violence,” Malagi said. The government, helium added, is “going after” the perpetrators.

In the aftermath of Trump’s comments, the curate stated that Abuja was engaged successful talks with the US implicit a information concern to code Nigeria’s information challenges “once and for all”.

St Joseph Catholic Church and Kano Road Central Mosque are successful the aforesaid country successful Kaduna, Nigeria, a state which is 53 percent Muslim and 45 percent Christian [File: Marvellous Durowaiye/Reuters]

Overlapping crises

Armed struggle has been 1 of Nigeria’s biggest challenges since 2009, erstwhile assorted groups began waging warfare successful the country’s north. The conflict grabbed planetary attraction successful April 2014, erstwhile Boko Haram — a radical known for its convulsive run against Western acquisition — kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from their dormitory successful Chibok, Borno State.

Today, Nigeria faces overlapping information crises, including attacks by equipped groups, bandits targeting farmers and agrarian communities, wide kidnapping, separatist agitations, and deadly communal clashes betwixt predominantly Muslim pastoral herders and mostly Christian farming communities of assorted taste groups.

Nigeria has a colonisation of 235 million, with a beingness of much than 250 taste groups. Fifty-three percent of Nigerians are Muslim, and 45 percent are Christian. Ongoing unit has severely impacted the system and, due to the fact that galore farmers are incapable to farm, is causing a nutrient exigency that has near millions of Nigerians starving and displaced.

Malagi explained that portion immoderate of the convulsive clashes successful the mediate belt, oregon cardinal region, impact groups motivated by transgression intent, often referred to arsenic bandits, astir are linked to contention for resources similar h2o and land. These skirmishes hap betwixt locals and pastoralists who migrate southbound for economical reasons oregon are forced to determination owed to overwhelming clime factors, specified arsenic desertification and drought.

Following Trump’s threats, the Nigerian authorities has besides travel nether immense interior unit and disapproval for failing to power the violence.

In response, Malagi said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered elder information officials to “flush out” those liable for the attacks. Since Tinubu came to power, the curate said, much than 13,500 fighters and bandits person been killed, and immoderate 17,000 person been captured and are awaiting trial.

Some Nigerians, particularly those who person been straight affected by the violence, impeach the authorities of complacency and blasted information forces for their inability to rein successful the attacks.

And their concerns are not without reason. On Monday, 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their schoolhouse successful Maga, Kebbi State, successful the northwest, by equipped men who killed a vice principal. In the past week, the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate successful West Africa Province – ISWAP – said it killed a Nigerian subject general, which President Tinubu confirmed connected Tuesday.

“We person shown that we privation to enactment hard to guarantee that these concerns are addressed,” Malagi said.

The curate explained that Tinubu has been mulling a nationalist assemblage policing programme – a determination that has been rejected by erstwhile administrations – successful which constabulary forces would beryllium deployed into their section communities, wherever they recognize the dynamics, alternatively than sending them from elsewhere.

“In the past, [community policing] has travel with immoderate scepticism,” Malagi said, referring to the concerns that authorities governors could exploit the forces for governmental gain. But a rethink is nether way, the curate added, due to the fact that “the authorities is seeing that these [security] issues are really community-based” and request to beryllium tackled astatine this level. The determination inactive faces a lengthy legislative process.

Malik Samuel, a elder information researcher astatine Good Governance Africa, a probe and advocacy nonprofit, believes assemblage policing should already beryllium successful spot owed to the captious information concern successful bluish Nigeria and the mediate belt.

“At this point, we should beryllium looking at, maybe, declaring a authorities of exigency with insecurity, particularly successful bluish Nigeria,” helium said.

To combat violence, Malagi said the authorities past twelvemonth went to the Supreme Court seeking a pronouncement to fiscally and politically empower section governments operating successful cities, towns, and agrarian areas.

“Drivers of insecurity similar deficiency of societal infrastructures, specified arsenic bully roads, hospitals and schools, would beryllium taken attraction of” if section governments had much autonomy, said Samuel.

Malagi said the authorities past twelvemonth deepened interfaith programmes, further supporting the enactment of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NARIC), an relation comprising Christians and Muslims to sermon ethnoreligious tensions to foster amended knowing and cooperation.

Cheta Nwanze, pb spouse astatine Lagos-based hazard advisory steadfast SBM Intelligence, said it is important that programmes rebuild nationalist spot successful the government, which has eroded implicit decades of violence.

“There is simply a spot thread that has been breached … You cannot decision an insurgency if you don’t person the spot of the section population,” Nwanze said.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu [File: Adriano Machado/Reuters]

Rising menace of banditry

President Tinubu besides approved the instauration of a nationalist equipped unit to support the country’s forests from transgression gangs carrying retired attacks, extortion, kidnapping and amerciable logging arsenic the menace of banditry grows.

Experts person applauded the efforts, but immoderate expressed interest astir the force’s suitability. Samuel questioned their quality to combat disconnected the convulsive actors who person taken implicit Nigeria’s forests, particularly successful the northbound and the mediate belt, and person a large woody much firepower.

“These are guys that adjacent our information forces are uncovering it hard to woody with,” said Samuel. “By deploying wood guards to forests that are infested by terrorists, you volition beryllium putting the lives of those [guards] astatine risk.”

Banditry has been connected the emergence successful the states of Kwara successful cardinal Nigeria and Kano successful the north. In the archetypal fractional of the year, bandits oregon equipped groups killed astatine slightest 2,266 radical successful the northbound and the mediate belt. Meanwhile, kidnapping by bandits and equipped groups has go a million-dollar industry, netting 2.23 trillion naira ($1.55bn) past year.

“The authorities is besides processing caller strategies to decision [the bandits] … We volition proceed to pursuit them wherever they are,” Malagi said.

But Samuel sees the September 28 sidesplitting of 15 radical successful Oke-Ode, a municipality successful the cardinal authorities of Kwara that has been seen arsenic safe, arsenic an indicator that banditry could dispersed further southbound if nary broad steps are taken to halt it.

Police officers patrol extracurricular a schoolhouse a time aft schoolgirls were abducted by bandits successful Zamfara, Nigeria, successful 2021 [File: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]

Regional cooperation

As portion of efforts to fortify information agencies wrong Nigeria and determination partnerships to code shared threats, the state has deepened practice with bodies including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and the Multinational Joint Task Force.

Last year, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — each nether subject governments — formally withdrew from ECOWAS, the determination bloc that Nigeria chaired nether Tinubu.

The withdrawal disrupted determination subject cooperation, contributing to a fragile diplomatic and information scenery crossed West Africa. It has besides challenged the gains made successful stabilising the Sahel, with the emergence and resurgence of groups similar Boko Haram and aggregate splinter groups.

“It is regrettable that immoderate of our neighbours — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — person pulled retired of ECOWAS. Nigeria has ever maintained that the portion is stronger erstwhile we are each together,” Malagi said.

Samuel suggested that the authorities should exploit the close-knit narration bluish Nigerians person with Niger to repair the relationship.

The weakening of authorities control, said Nwanze, has fixed equipped groups abstraction to recoup and recruit.

Mali’s capital, Bamako, is nether siege by fighters with the al-Qaeda affiliate radical Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which precocious made inroads into Nigeria, launching its first known onslaught successful the country past month.

“The bigger occupation successful the wider Sahel is that the [region] is afloat of anemic states that don’t person the quality to power their full territory, truthful it gives each sorts of nefarious groups a accidental to commercialized abstraction for time, and that is thing that volition impact Nigeria arsenic well,” Nwanze said.

US information ties

To tackle the information situation, said Malagi, the Nigerian authorities has besides reshuffled the apical of its equipped forces, including changes successful the main of defence unit and different work chiefs — though section media reported the changes followed a failed coup effort successful October. He did not remark connected the alleged planned coup, but said a subject probe was ongoing.

Meanwhile, astatine the diplomatic level, erstwhile Tinubu took bureau successful 2023, each Nigerian ambassadors were recalled, and nary has been appointed to regenerate them to caput the country’s embassies abroad. Experts accidental Nigeria’s notable lack successful important rooms successful Washington, for example, mightiness person played a relation successful Trump’s threats.

Nwanze said if Nigeria had an ambassador successful Washington, the diplomat would person requested a gathering with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arsenic soon arsenic Ted Cruz and different right-wing lawmakers began making accusations.

Nigeria has yet to marque a nationalist diplomatic move.

Malagi agrees that Nigeria needs to name ambassadors, but says that diplomatic relations proceed due to the fact that the country’s embassies stay staffed.

He said talks were nether mode with the US to fortify information ties.

“There are talks ongoing, diplomatic channels person not been foreclosed; they are really progressive and we deliberation that they are working,” Malagi added.

This is not the archetypal clip the countries person partnered. They person had a information concern for the past 50 years. Nigeria buys arms from the US, receives subject acquisition and grooming programmes, and the countries clasp associated subject exercises.

In effect to questions from Al Jazeera, the US State Department cited erstwhile statements by Trump and Rubio condemning unit against Christians successful Nigeria.

“The United States stands ready, willing, and capable to act,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera, without addressing circumstantial questions astir a concern to tackle insecurity.

“We impulse the Nigerian authorities to amended spiritual freedom, fortify protections for Christians, and guarantee accountability for perpetrators,” the spokesperson added.

“We don’t judge [the information challenge] is an contented that tin beryllium handled by conscionable issuing threats and besides saying that the president volition enactment boots connected the crushed and onslaught communities straight successful Nigeria,” Malagi said.

“We judge that we tin bash amended if we person amended practice with the United States to tackle this erstwhile and for all.”