Trump’s Threat to Nigeria: Exposing the Flawed Report that Sparked It
Why Mike Arnold Got it wrong
By Comrade Nasiru Chikaji
Mike Arnold’s recent report on “Christian genocide” in Northern Nigeria has ignited global debate — and even helped trigger U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat against Nigeria. To be honest, Arnold deserves acknowledgement for setting foot in crisis-affected communities, speaking with victims, and attempting to amplify suffering. For that, Nigerians — Muslim and Christian — should thank him.
But good intentions do not equal accurate conclusions.
A Verdict Delivered Before the Trial
Arnold’s “investigation” began with the answer already written. Months before arriving in Nigeria, he publicly declared that a Christian genocide was underway and lobbied U.S. Congress to sanction Nigeria on that basis. He met U.S. lawmakers, aligned with faith-advocacy groups, and pushed Resolution 82 long before stepping on Nigerian soil. That’s not investigation. That’s confirmation seeking evidence to fit a campaign already in motion.
A Narrow Lens on a Wide Tragedy
Arnold’s fieldwork focused almost exclusively on Christian-majority communities like Gwoza and Ngoshe — areas undeniably brutalized by Boko Haram. But he ignored equally devastated Muslim communities across Mafa, Bama, Baga, Monguno, and others — including my own ancestral villages, erased by Boko Haram.
Entire Muslim towns were burned. Mosques flattened. Worshippers slaughtered in prayer. Refugees fled to Cameroon. This is not anecdote — it is lived experience for millions.
To highlight Christian victims but skip Muslim graveyards is not investigation — it is selective empathy.
The Middle Belt Without the Missing Half
Arnold toured Plateau and Benue — epicenters of farmer-herder conflict — but skipped the Northwest, where Fulani, Hausa, and other Muslim communities have been massacred, buses burned with passengers inside, and schoolchildren abducted in mass waves.
Banditry and terrorism don’t carry church or mosque membership cards. Pain is not sectarian. Nor is death.
Faith Lens, Advocacy Filter
Arnold leads a Christian NGO and has authored books calling believers to “rise and fight.” Passion is admirable — but when advocacy precedes evidence, analysis bends toward theology, not truth.
His public fallout with Reno Omokri — once praised as “a man of God” and suddenly demonized — betrays an emotional posture unfit for rigorous, sensitive field inquiry.
Nigeria’s tragedy requires sobriety, not zeal.
Nigeria’s Reality Is Bigger Than One Narrative
Nigeria is not witnessing a Christian genocide or a Muslim genocide. Nigeria is facing a national security collapse where:
- Terrorists kill both Christians and Muslims
- State weakness fuels impunity
- Politicians exploit fear
- Foreign lobbyists see opportunity
- Ordinary Nigerians bury their dead daily — across faiths
This is not a sectarian war. It is a humanitarian catastrophe.
Arnold’s Work Has Value — But It Is Not Final
Arnold has done one important thing: he reignited global attention on suffering in Nigeria. For that, appreciation is due. But a singular narrative cannot be allowed to become foreign policy truth — especially when based on partial fieldwork and a pre-written thesis.
Nigeria needs truth, not imported religious framing. We need balanced international inquiry — diverse, independent, unbiased — not faith-driven conclusions imported from Washington and stamped as national destiny.
Arnold’s compassion is genuine. His methodology is not conclusive.
Nigeria Deserves Fairness — And Evidence-Based Justice
Yes — Christians are killed in Nigeria. So are Muslims. So are children of no faith. The soil of our nation does not discriminate in whom it receives.
To speak for victims, one must speak for all of them. If the world must intervene on Nigeria’s behalf, let it intervene for humanity, not for one side of our shared graveyard. No one tribe owns grief in Nigeria. No one faith owns the graveyards.
