Trump’s America and Labelling of Kwankwaso, Fulani, and Nigerian Muslims
Trump’s America and Labelling of Kwankwaso, Fulani, and Nigerian Muslims
By Yushau A. Shuaib
I write this with deep concern—not anger, however concern—over what more and more seems to be a troubling sample within the posture of america beneath President Donald Trump towards Nigeria, significantly its Muslim communities and northern management.
Since Trump’s return to workplace, a story has steadily gathered momentum in Washington: that Nigeria is a theatre of “Christian genocide,” orchestrated or tolerated by Muslim political actors. It’s a grave allegation. Additionally it is one which many credible Nigerian authorities, non secular leaders, safety specialists, and impartial analysts have constantly challenged as simplistic, selective, and dangerously deceptive.
Nigeria’s safety disaster is actual. Terrorism, banditry, communal clashes, and legal violence have devastated communities—Muslim and Christian alike—in Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna and past. However to scale back this advanced internet of criminality, governance failure, local weather stress, and arms proliferation right into a one-dimensional non secular struggle is just not evaluation; it’s advocacy.
The genesis of this framing might be traced to lobbying efforts and studies amplified in overseas coverage circles—some originating from discredited advocacy {groups}, whose information and claims have been publicly questioned by investigative journalists. But, these narratives have discovered fertile floor amongst sure US lawmakers and spiritual stress blocs keen to suit Nigeria right into a broader world persecution template.
President Trump’s earlier designation of Nigeria as a “Nation of Explicit Concern” (CPC) over alleged non secular persecution was controversial. The redesignation months later strengthened the notion that Washington had settled on a story, no matter Nigeria’s inner complexities.
Pushed by this ill-informed framing, Trump ordered a Christmas Day airstrike on Sokoto—traditionally the seat of Nigeria’s Islamic Caliphate—as a symbolic gesture aimed toward appeasing his Christian constituency. The strike occurred regardless of Sokoto being neither an epicentre of terrorism nor banditry. The Muslims didn’t protest the deliberate provocation, even after discovering that native collaborators had been feeding Individuals the so-called ‘Christian genocide’ narrative as a strategic ploy to affect Nigeria’s 2027 presidential tickets.
Now comes the introduction of the “Nigeria Spiritual Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026” by US lawmakers Chris Smith, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Invoice Huizenga. The invoice seeks sanctions—together with visa bans and asset freezes—in opposition to former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and sure Fulani-affiliated {groups} such because the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Affiliation of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.
Extra disturbingly, the laws seems designed to pave the best way for categorising Muslim political leaders in addition to “Fulani-ethnic nomad militias” as overseas terrorist organisations.
It’s so worrisome to scandalise a outstanding political determine like Kwankwaso—a Muslim who is just not generally known as a spiritual extremist—on the eve of his alignment forward of Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election is deeply scandalous. Equally harmful is the try and criminalise a whole ethnic id beneath the sweeping label of “Fulani militia,” setting a deadly precedent.
Legal parts exist throughout all ethnic and spiritual strains in Nigeria. However the Fulani, just like the Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Kanuri, Ijaw or some other group, are a various inhabitants numbering within the tens of millions. Collective blame is just not justice; it’s profiling.
Nigeria has welcomed elevated U.S. army engagement, with AFRICOM officers assembly Nigerian safety leaders and American troops now permitted to function within the nation. The federal government has additionally invested tens of millions of {dollars} in diplomatic outreach and strategic lobbying. But the shift from partnership to punitive labelling raises an uncomfortable query: what precisely is Washington in search of?
And extra importantly, what does Trump’s new posture imply for Nigerians, Muslims and non Muslims alike? Ought to it push us towards suspicion of each other or towards questioning the motives behind externally pushed narratives, together with these formed by controversial studies from sure advocacy {groups}, particularly the Onitsha-based Intersociety operated by a screwdriver salesman and different IPOB platforms?
If the priority is actually non secular freedom, then coverage should be anchored in verifiable proof, not selective outrage. Terrorism’s epicentres—Borno beneath Boko Haram, Zamfara beneath banditry networks, Niger beneath rebel infiltration—don’t match neatly right into a Christian-versus-Muslim binary. Victims in these theatres embody imams, pastors, farmers, merchants, and kids of each religion.
As I mirrored in my earlier articles, the narrative that Nigeria’s Muslims are collectively complicit in anti-Christian persecution is just not solely inaccurate; it’s inflammatory. It dangers deepening distrust inside Nigeria’s fragile social cloth. It emboldens extremists who thrive on polarisation. And it externalises what ought to stay a sovereign, evidence-driven safety discourse.
However sanctions based mostly on politicised framing or fictitious advocacy-driven studies by secessionist and anti-Muslim {groups} undermine the credibility of worldwide accountability mechanisms.
If President Trump’s America actually seeks stability in West Africa, it should have interaction Nigeria in partnership, not profiling; in proof, not emotion; in diplomacy, not designation.
Nigeria’s Muslims and Fulani ethnic {groups} don’t want appeasement. They want equity. Our nation wants fact-based engagement, not concern.
Yushau A. Shuaib is the creator of “An Encounter with the Spymaster” and “Award-Profitable Disaster Communication Methods.”
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