The governor of Anambra, Chukwuma Soludo, says Nigeria’s security crisis goes beyond a Christian versus Muslim conflict.
Speaking during a media chat on Sunday, Soludo cautioned that President Donald Trump’s threat to “protect Christians in Nigeria” oversimplifies the nation’s complex challenges.
He noted that while the United States has the right to express opinions on global matters, any intervention must adhere to international law and respect Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“As a country, America has its own rights to have its own views about what is going on elsewhere,” he said.
“But when it comes to what it does, I am sure it must also act within the realm of international law.”
The governor urged the Nigerian government to engage in a “deeper conversation” to address the issues raised and to ensure that facts are properly presented.
According to Soludo, most of the killings in the south-east are rooted in internal conflicts rather than religion.
“People are killing themselves — Christians killing Christians,” he said.
“The people in the bushes are Emmanuel, Peter, John — all Christian names — and they have maimed and killed thousands of our youths. It has nothing to do with religion.”
Soludo stated that if Nigeria requires foreign assistance, it should come through official requests for military support or technology — not through threats or unilateral actions.
He dismissed the notion of foreign invasion, drawing a comparison with racial violence in the United States.
“You had policemen killing some blacks… I remember the #BlackLivesMatter protest, and somebody would say maybe Africa should go and invade America because blacks are being killed? I’m not quite sure,” he said.
The governor maintained that constructive dialogue remains the best way forward.
“I think there is a need for deeper conversation,” he said. “It must end in conversation, and I am sure the government of Nigeria will respond very robustly. Nigeria is such a big country, and the government is doing a whole lot to safeguard it.”
Soludo, who is seeking re-election next Saturday, added that the south-east is predominantly Christian, urging that the crisis not be mischaracterised.
“In this part of the country, we are 95 percent Christian,” he said. “The people in the bushes killing others bear Christian names; it is wider than the categorisation of Christians and Muslims. Nigeria will overcome, and it will end in conversation.”
Background
On Friday, Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over allegations of Christian genocide. Hours later, he threatened that the “USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country ‘guns-a-blazing’, to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists killing Christians.”
Following this, Pete Hegseth, US secretary of war, said his department is preparing for possible military action if the Nigerian government fails to end the “killing of innocent Christians” in the country.
US Senator Ted Cruz also introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, which seeks to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials accused of enabling “the mass murder of Christians” or enforcing Sharia and blasphemy laws.