‘Trump can’t be trusted’: Fani-Kayode cautions FG against talks with US president

‘Trump can’t be trusted’: Fani-Kayode cautions FG against talks with US president

Former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has warned the Federal Government against engaging President Donald Trump in talks over the US leader’s recent threat of military intervention in Nigeria, saying any attempt at dialogue would be futile and could invite further humiliation.

Delivering the keynote address titled “Bow to God, and Not to Trump” on Tuesday at the Nigeria Bar Association conference in Akure, Ondo State, Fani-Kayode described Mr Trump as “unpredictable and unbalanced” and argued that talks would achieve little beyond exposing Nigeria to public insult.

Mr Fani-Kayode acknowledged the “horrendous killings” of Christians by Islamist terrorists in parts of the country, but said Muslims had also suffered similar attacks. He accused Mr Trump of harbouring “pathological hatred for Africans, black and brown people and Muslims,” and suggested the US president’s stated aim to intervene militarily was motivated by a desire to balkanise the country, establish US military bases and exploit Nigeria’s natural resources.

“Those that believe that he can be talked into not doing what he clearly wants to do to our nation are ignorant, undiscerning and deluded,” he said, adding that any planned White House meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Mr Trump would be “incredulous” and likely “come to nought.”

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Fani-Kayode urged caution, saying a face-to-face meeting could result in the Nigerian leader being “verbally and savagely assaulted” before the global media, a spectacle the former minister argued Nigeria should avoid. “Diplomacy is one thing, but shameful capitulation with our tail between our legs is quite another,” he said.

Advocating a hardline approach to terrorism, Fani-Kayode told delegates that the military should crush Islamist militants rather than negotiate or rehabilitate them. “I do not believe in dialogue with them or forgiving them … I believe in crushing them and sending them to their maker and in doing so quickly and decisively,” he said.

The speech follows Mr Trump’s announcement that he had designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” over what he described as the “existential threat” facing Christians, and his vow to instruct the United States “Department of War” to prepare for possible action if the Nigerian government failed to halt attacks on Christians. Mr Trump warned that the US could halt aid and “go into that now disgraced country, gun-a-blazing.”

The Federal Government has denied that a genocide against Christians is taking place and has appealed for US assistance in equipment and intelligence to fight terrorists. Reactions to Mr Trump’s remarks have been mixed, with debates continuing over the scale and nature of violence against religious communities in Nigeria.

Fani-Kayode called on political leadership and the armed forces to muster the will to eliminate Islamist terrorists and foreign militias, urging President Tinubu to move beyond rhetoric to tangible military action to secure the nation.

‘Trump can’t be trusted’: Fani-Kayode cautions FG against talks with US president