By Chidimma Okwara
NIGERIA- Professor of Theology and Social Ethics, Prof Yusufu Turaki, has urged President Bola Tinubu to have a crystal clear understanding that the challenge before him is to stop the mass killings, mass invasions and occupations of the ancestral lands of vulnerable communities across the Northern states, stressing that this is a task that must be done.
Turaki, who is a Middle Belt leader, said that “Those railing against Trump are sponsors of terrorism, banditry,”.
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His comment is highly controversial and is directly related to the renewed designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the United States government under President Donald Trump.
In October/November 2025, the U.S. State Department, on the recommendation of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), re-designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for engaging in or tolerating “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
The previous Biden administration had inexplicably removed Nigeria from the CPC list in 2021, despite evidence of rising violence, a move that was heavily criticized by human rights advocates and U.S. lawmakers.
The renewed CPC designation is primarily based on the escalating violence in Nigeria, including attacks by terror groups (Boko Haram/ISWAP) and the deadly farmer-herder clashes, which disproportionately affect Christian communities, particularly in the Middle Belt.
Turaki’s fiery statement is an attempt to frame the domestic political criticism of President Trump’s designation as a sign of opposition to international efforts to solve Nigeria’s security crises.
Donald Trump’s warfare is not against the good citizens of Nigeria, or the Nigerian state, but only terrorism and the terrorists. It is our moral failures that have forcefully brought in President Trump. Let us bury the hatchet and blame ourselves for being heartless, callous, uncaring and indifferent to the plight of the oppressed Nigerians.
By labeling Trump’s critics as “sponsors of terrorism and banditry,” Turaki suggests that those who oppose the CPC designation are, in effect, trying to weaken the pressure on the Nigerian government to address insecurity and religious violence.
Some Nigerians have generated their parochial views by vowing to fight America on this hypothetical interference on account of Nigeria being a sovereign state. But they have never vowed to save their brothers and sisters from the hands of the marauding terrorists and the new Nigerian gospel, which preaches that salvation can only be found in violence and corruption. These are two major values that rule Nigeria today. Honest and sincere Nigerians are looked upon as having come mars.
His statement aligns with the views of many human rights advocates who believe the CPC designation is a crucial tool to compel the Nigerian government to protect religious freedom, prosecute perpetrators, and hold security chiefs accountable.
In essence, Turaki’s comment transforms an international diplomatic matter into a highly charged domestic political attack, suggesting that supporting the U.S. government’s decision is the only patriotic stand against the country’s security crisis.
