Three plans have been drawn up to be forwarded to the Pentagon, outlining a potential military operation against “Jihadists” and terrorist groups on the rampage in Nigeria, even though President Bola Tinubu’s administration is diametrically opposed to the idea.
Unimpressed by Mr Tinubu’s efforts to tame the unhinged bandits and terrorists maiming and killing thousands of innocent civilians across the country, particularly in the northern region, U.S. President Donald Trump has accused the Nigerian leader of overseeing a government that turns a blind eye to atrocities targeted at Christians, which he termed as genocide.
The main Christian body in Nigeria affirmed that allegation.
Last week, Mr Trump pulled the ear of the Tinubu administration by re-designating Nigeria as a ‘country of particular’ concern. Thereafter, Mr Trump warned that U.S. troops would storm Nigeria, gun blazing, to smoke out and kill off the armed bandits and “Jihadists” allegedly carrying out a genocide against Christians.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. 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 who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Mr Trump stated. “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has ordered the U.S. Department of War to prepare for the military offensive, and plans seem to be underway to launch an attack on Nigerian soil.
That unwarranted and unwelcome military operation has begun to take shape, according to a report by The New York Times. It reported that the U.S. military was considering three options for the attack, according to defence sources familiar with the plans.
The military plan, the newspaper reported, outlined three options, namely light, medium, and heavy.
The light option included what the military referred to as partner-enabled operations.
Under that option, the U.S. military and the State Department would support government forces in Nigeria to target Boko Haram and other Islamic insurgents who have attacked, kidnapped, and murdered civilians, mostly in northern Nigeria, stated the publication.
Additionally, it reported that following that route, the U.S. government would have to conduct the operation without the expertise of the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose office in Abuja was shut down in July via Mr Trump’s fiat.
The “medium option” suggested by Africa Command includes drone strikes on militant camps, bases, convoys, and vehicles in northern Nigeria, said the newspaper. However, this option, the report noted, is constrained by the fact “that the U.S. military in August vacated its two nearest drone bases, in Agadez and Niamey, both in neighbouring Niger.
Russian forces currently occupy those bases.
The third option would be to deploy an aircraft carrier group into the Gulf of Guinea and to send fighters and possibly long-range bombers to conduct strikes deep in northern Nigeria.
American lawmaker Riley Moore accused the Nigerian government of complicity in the attacks on Nigerian Christians. Mr Moore, who represents West Virginia’s 2nd District in Congress, stated that nobody “seems to really care about it”.
Mr Moore added, “This is something, as a Christian myself and a Catholic, this is something I deeply care about. My Christian brothers and sisters are being murdered in Nigeria, and this is me raising the alarm in the United States and say we have to do something. This is so alarming and concerning.”
The U.S. lawmaker further accused Mr Tinubu’s administration of “shameful silence”, insisting the government has continued to turn a blind eye to the attacks despite scores of churches destroyed and Christians murdered.
“It’s turning a blind eye to it. This has been going on for quite a while in Nigeria, and it’s the persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in the country of Nigeria by Islamic extremists. There are three different types of groups to blame here,” the lawmaker explained. “One is Boko Haram; we are kind of familiar with it.
“We have IS Africa, more ISIS aligned, and you have these tribal people, most of them involved in cattle herdsmen, the Fulani. There have been, as of recent, a lot of killings. All three are to blame for this. And to me, the government of Nigeria is to blame for this as well.”
Mr Tinubu has rejected claims of a pogrom against Christians in the country. On Sunday, his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the Nigerian leader was well ahead of the “orchestrated game” unfolding in the U.S.
“President Bola Tinubu was well ahead of the orchestrated game unfolding in America as he told the new service chiefs on Thursday what Nigerians expect of them. No more excuses, he said. Nigerians want results,” Mr Onanuga said.
China, also designated as a ‘country of particular concern’, has thrown its weight behind Nigeria.
“As Nigeria’s comprehensive strategic partner, China firmly opposes any country using religion and human rights as an excuse to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and threatening other countries with sanctions and force,” the Chinese government said on Tuesday.
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