CPC listing: Tinubu, solve Nigeria’s insecurity!

 

Since last Friday, October 31, 2025, when US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a country of particular concern, a sort of blacklist, I have been interviewed on the controversial listing by several media platforms.  Trust TV; LN247 Television; Galaxy Television; Citizen 93.7 FM, Abuja; Asaase Radio 99.5 FM, Accra, Ghana; Impact Business Radio 92.5, Ibadan; Channels Television and Pinnacle Daily  (online newspaper) have all sought my opinion on the issue. I am steadfast in my belief that while there may be concerns about persecution of the Christian minority in some states in Northern Nigeria, it cannot be categorised as a genocide. The dictionary definition of genocide is “the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group to destroy that nation or group”. I am of the considered view that both Christians and Muslims have been victims of insecurity, particularly insurgency.

While there have been killings as a result of herders/farmers clashes in parts of Plateau and Benue states for some time now, so has there been similar unrest, killing and maiming in Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa orchestrated by insurgents and bandits. Indeed, there is no part of Nigeria that is not feeling the heat of insecurity. Can we say in good conscience that the Indigenous People of Biafra and its militia wing, the Eastern Security Network, are Hausa Fulani people killing Igbos who are predominantly Christians? Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra does not feel so, likewise all right-thinking Nigerians. The Niger Delta militants who routinely vandalised pipelines, kidnapped for ransom and caused unrest in the Niger Delta region are mostly sons and daughters of the region and not the Hausa Fulani Muslims.  They were seeking economic justice, and since 2009, when they were granted amnesty as well as some other perks, such as 13 per cent derivation, South-South Development Commission and the Niger Delta Development Commission, the militancy has been brought under control.

Nigeria is a victim of the global terrorism challenge, worsening by the insecurity in the Middle East countries, such as Iraq and Syria, as well as the collapse of the administration of Col. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. ISIS and ISWAP found an ally in Boko Haram and have jointly been terrorising Nigeria since 2009. I concede that our leaders, especially ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, were lethargic in their approach to dealing decisively with the issue of insecurity, which is why it lingered. Not a few people believe that, being a Fulani, Buhari wasn’t ruthless against the perpetrators of killings in Benue and Plateau. When $2.1bn security fund was mismanaged by Col. Sambo Dasuki as National Security Adviser under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the trial of the dramatis personae in that heist has not been conclusive.

I must say that relisting Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ by the United States of America is within its prerogative. Remember, this is the second time Trump is doing that, having first listed us in December 2020 before the Joe Biden administration delisted us in November 2021. I welcome the visa ban, travel restrictions, naming and shaming and freezing of accounts of sponsors of terror in Nigeria. I, however, vehemently object to the launching of military operations in Nigeria.

Not a few Nigerians, including myself, see this CPC blacklist as a buildup to some frosty relationship between Nigeria and the US. First, America wasn’t happy that Nigeria was invited to join BRICS as a "partner country" in October 2024 and formally became the ninth partner country in January 2025. Secondly, in July 2025, Nigeria rebuffed the US request to come and dump some Venezuelans who are termed Third Country Deportees in our country. Our Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, also criticised Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza in his speech during the UN General Assembly in September 2025. Remember, the US has been unflinching in its support of Israel in all military operations in the Middle East, whether in Lebanon, Iran, Palestine or Yemen. Is it not surprising that a US congressman, Scott Perry, in February 2025, said that the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, has been funding Boko haram and other international terrorist organisations in Nigeria? Although the United States has firmly rejected allegations. Yet, there is no smoke without fire.

According to TRT Afrika of November 3, 2025, “Some US politicians and experts are suggesting the establishment of an emergency US military base in Nigeria’s oil-rich region of the Niger Delta to tackle alleged 'massacres of Christians' by Boko Haram terrorists.  In a social media post on 2 November, an advisor to Donald Trump and the Co-Secretary-General of the Transatlantic Parliamentary Group, Dr Walid Phares, claimed that establishing a US base in Port Harcourt, the headquarters of Nigeria’s oil resources, will help to “deter Boko Haram”. This is preposterous! It has also raised a claim of ulterior motive to the US listing of Nigeria on its CPC. Could it be for the US to access and annex our natural resources? 

Interestingly, Trump’s claims sharply contradicted comments by his Senior Advisor on Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos, who rejected allegations that a genocide against Christians was taking place in Nigeria. “We even know that Boko Haram and ISIS are killing more Muslims than Christians. People are suffering from all sorts of backgrounds. This is not specifically targeted at one group or the other,” Massad Boulos said in mid-October 2025. Lest we forget, in May this year, Donald Trump, allegedly on the petition from Elon Musk, claimed that the South African government was committing a “genocide” against White farmers, falsely showing photos from the DRC conflict to visiting President Cyril Ramaphosa in Washington to back his widely discredited claims.

There is no point agonising over the false claim by the US on Nigeria. What President Tinubu needs to do is to seek an audience with Donald Trump and clear the air on the issues of insecurity and what the government is doing. I am glad there is a step being taken in that direction.

Secondly, the President should, without further delay, appoint ambassadors and High Commissioners to our foreign missions (embassies, high commissions and consulates). If we had a substantive US ambassador, perhaps this step by Donald Trump would have been averted. Three, the President should incentivise our armed forces to perform their tasks better. While he is right to have rejigged the service chiefs, the troubling situation in the country needs more than tokenism. Our armed forces need lethal weapons, hi-tech security gadgets, such as satellite surveillance and all-weather drones, CCTV cameras, forensic laboratories, etc. The National Assembly also needs to expedite work on the constitutional alteration to establish state police. Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be solved by a centralised policing system.

Something must be done to rein in and interdict the free flow of small arms and light weapons circulating across Nigeria. Judiciary (lawyers and judges) should fasten the prosecution of arrested terrorists being prosecuted. Lastly, there should be improved governance and delivery of democracy dividends to ease the rising cost of living which is  pushing many Nigerians into crime.

I.G @jideojong