A retired US Army Captain, Bish Johnson, has stated that Nigeria‘s insecurity challenges are too complex to be resolved by a single military intervention from the United States.

Johnson made this known on Friday during an appearance on Prime Time, a programme on Arise Television.

This is in response to recent US airstrikes conducted on terrorist strongholds in Nigeria’s Northwest region.

According to Johnson, Nigeria is grappling with multiple security threats that require more than airstrikes to address effectively.

“The problem is much more complicated than it is being simplified. Nobody has talked about the issue of herder-farmer clashes, which have claimed so many lives in the Middle Belt; it is still ongoing,” he said.

“So Nigeria has a multifaceted insecurity problem that this one strike cannot address.”

Johnson also drew attention to religious violence in northern Nigeria, citing the brutal killing of Deborah Samuel, a Christian student who was stoned to death by her Muslim schoolmates in Sokoto State in 2022.

He expressed concern that those responsible for Samuel’s murder have not been brought to justice, noting that this lack of accountability affects how the international community perceives Nigeria’s security situation.

“There’s also the issue of Sharia law in northern Nigeria. Unfortunately, we saw what happened in Sokoto State, where a young lady, Deborah Samuel, was lynched and stoned to death in broad daylight by her fellow schoolmates,” Johnson stated.

“And up till now, none of the people responsible for the death of that innocent young lady have been brought to justice. These are some of the issues that the Americans are observing, which is why they are tagging this as religious persecution.”

The former Army Captain explained that such incidents make it challenging to convince Americans to view Nigeria’s security problems differently from religious persecution.

“It’s difficult to convince Americans otherwise when you have that kind of situation in Sokoto State—and that’s not the only place where similar incidents have occurred and people have not been held accountable,” he added.

“So that makes it much more difficult for us to convince the Americans to view it any differently than what is depicted in such situations.” (TRIBUNE)

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