We’ll support Trump to end ethno-religious genocide, IPOB vows
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has highlighted that Christians are killing each other in the south-eastern part of the country.
Soludo, however, emphasised that the violence was not religiously motivated.
He was reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and his threat of military action against Islamic terrorists in the North.
But the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has vowed to “fully support” Trump to “end ethno-religious genocide in Nigeria”.
During a media chat yesterday, Soludo stressed the importance of conversations about the killings, noting that the perpetrators in the South-East violence, which was not linked to religion, bear Christian names.
The governor called for deeper introspection and dialogue to address the issue, expressing confidence that the Nigerian government would respond robustly to safeguard the country.
He said: “As a country, America has its own right to have its own views about what is going on elsewhere, but when it comes to what it does, I am sure it must also act within the realm of its own international law.
“But there is a deeper conversation; our introspection about what goes on in the country. In this part of the world, Eastern Nigeria, it is not religious. People are killing one another. Christians are killing Christians. The people in the bushes all bear Christian names and they have maimed and killed thousands of our youths. It has nothing to do with religion.”
In a statement by the U.S. chapter of IPOB, which was made public by the Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, the pro-Biafra movement urged all Nigerians of every tribe resident in the U.S. to resist any attempt by Nigeria to launder its image against the recent designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern by Trump.
IPOB vowed to mobilise all Nigerians in the U.S. to protest against the proposed meeting of a delegation by the Federal Government and Trump.
This is coming on the heels of a report that a high-powered delegation of the Federal Government is expected in the U.S. today to meet with Trump over the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.
It would be recalled that United States redesignated Nigeria as a country of particular concern after President Donald Trump expressed concern that Christianity faces an existential threat in the West African nation, with a lot of Christians being killed.
The redesignation came after a wave of campaign by American and European far right politicians and commentators that claimed that there was Christian genocide in Nigeria.
Trump said that he is focused on changing the situation in Nigeria.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN” — But that is the least of it,” Trump said on Friday.
But the Nigerian government has insisted that Christians are not being singled out for attacks while also acknowledging that it has security challenges.
