Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised former U.S. President Donald Trump for threatening military action in Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians, describing the remarks as reckless and irrational.
Soyinka spoke in Makurdi on Friday after a meeting with Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia. His reaction followed Trump’s recent comments warning that the United States could suspend aid to Nigeria and potentially “go in guns blazing” if attacks on Christians continued.
Trump had said: “If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and may very well enter that now disgraced country ‘guns-a-blazing’ to wipe out Islamic terrorists committing these atrocities.”
Responding to journalists, Soyinka faulted Trump’s approach, insisting that such threats show a poor understanding of Nigeria’s security complexities.
“You don’t just wake up and say, ‘I’m coming to help you whether you like it or not,’ with almost no analysis of where the problem lies,” he said. “You claim you’re coming ‘guns blazing,’ and that it will be ‘fast, vicious and swift.’ Is that the language of someone thinking clearly?”
He added that difficulty or crisis does not justify accepting help delivered with violence or imposed without consent.
“Being in distress doesn’t mean we should welcome assistance from someone acting irrationally,” Soyinka said. “You cannot claim to help a people by threatening them with force, without understanding the roots of the problem.”
Soyinka stressed that while government must protect its citizens, any intervention should respect victims and those working to resolve the nation’s security challenges.
