Abuja – United States President Donald Trump on Monday read what could be described as a riot act to the Nigerian government, saying the killing of Christians in Nigeria was unacceptable to the United States of America’s government.
Trump who received President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House, Washington DC, also described recent killings occasioned by terrorism in Nigeria as a “terrible problem”.
While acknowledging that terrorism was a global phenomenon, Trump also stated that Nigeria was becoming a hot-bed for terrorism, a situation that called for urgent attention.
The US caution came, just as several Christian denominations in Nigeria seized the Sunday worship service across the country to stage peaceful protest against the killings and kidnapping in the country.
The protest followed a directive by the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
Although several persons have been killed in Benue State as a result of clashes between farmers and herdsmen, all hell was let loose recently when some suspected herdsmen killed two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners during attack on a church in Benue.
The slain Catholic priests were identified as Rev. Fr. Joseph Gor and Fr. Felix Tyolaha VC. The attack took place at St. Ignatius Quasi Catholic Parish, Ukpor, Mbalom, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.
They had stormed the church premises during an early morning funeral mass and shot the victims dead.
Beyond this, Trump also tasked the Nigerian president on efforts to curb the spate of kidnappings in the country.
He particularly asked Buhari what he was doing about the remaining girls kidnapped from Chibok, a community in Borno State and the sole girl, Leah Sharibu, still in captivity of Boko Haram in Dapchi, Yobe State.
Trump said, “We have met before, developing great relationship, we look forward to our discussions today, they are very important but again, especially as it relates to terrorism. That is terrorism here and terrorism all over the world.
“It’s a hot bird and we are going to be stopping them. Also, we have had a very serious problem with Christians who are being murdered, killed in Nigeria. We gonna be working on that problem, and working on that problem very very hard because we can’t allow that to happen. Mr. President thank you for being here, thank you.
“We have very much decimated ISIS, much has taken place over the last twelve months but Boko Haram has been terrible and how did you do with the young women that were kidnapped? How was that going?”
When asked about corruption in Nigeria, Trump, who said America gives Nigeria $1 billion yearly, said, “We have actually discussed this. In terms of corruption, Nigeria has a massive reputation for corruption as you can see very well and we also know that the president has been able to cut them down to a certain state. We talked about it, he is working on it and has made a lot of progress. I think he will continue to make a lot of progress. We have a lot people in this country and the country itself that invests in Nigeria, so cutting down the corruption element and a corrupt element is very important to us and the president will be able to do that.”
President Buhari on his part, lauded the United States government for helping Nigeria on intelligence gathering and other military assistance.
Buhari also assured that efforts were being consolidated to effect the release of the remaining girls still in captivity of the terrorists.
He said, “Thank you Mr. President for inviting me. It’s a great honour, I am very grateful for it. Certainly, security is the main issue, we are very grateful to the United Sates for agreeing to give us the aircraft we asked and the spare parts. We are even more grateful for the physical presence of the United States military instructors that go into our institutions and train them, and go to the front in the North East to see how they are performing as a result of the training given to them.
“The commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have had first-hand experience of that and we are very grateful for it. The problem of the cattle rearers and farmers in Nigeria is a very long historical thing.
“The Nigerian herders never carried anything more than a stick and occasionally a machete to cut down foliage and give it to their animals. These ones are carrying AK47 so I don’t think people should underrate what happened in Libya. Forty-three years of Gadaffi, people were recruited from the Sahel, they were thought nothing other than shoot and kill.
“With the demise of Gadaffi, they moved to their countries and their regions and they carried away with them, the only experience they have and training using weapons. And that is what is aggravating the situation.
“We are doing our best to ensure that we stop cross border and so on and to get the proliferation and small arms weapons in the regions checked. But it is going to take time, and the action by the United States in trying to see the end of ISIS has helped us a lot because Boko Haram in Nigeria at one time made a statement that they were loyal to ISIS. And now that ISIS has virtually gone with the help of the United States, we are very grateful for that and we are sure that we are stabilising the situation of security in Nigeria.
“The Chibok girls was before we came in 2014. We have only a number of them, we recovered about thirty of them. But the Dapchi ones, they were 106 that were kidnapped, we got 100 back, four died, one is still held in captivity and we are very grateful for the United Nations organisation that is acting in between us and the kidnappers and haven’t given up, we are trying to get everybody back to join their families and their schools”.
The post Trump To Buhari: U.S. Won’t Accept Killing Of Christians appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Daily Independent
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