With the dust raised by the threat of United States President, Donald Trump, continuing to swirl, Professor of Theology and Social Ethics, Prof. Yusufu Turaki, has urged President Bola Tinubu to have a crystal-clear understanding that the challenge before him is to stop the mass killings, mass invasions and occupations of the ancestral lands of vulnerable communities across the Northern states, stressing that this is a task that must be done.

Turaki, who is a Middle Belt leader, said that accomplishment of the task could turn the tide of Nigerian social dynamics and politics. He also stressed that Tinubu should recognize that his enemies would make sure he does not succeed. He said that the blood of innocent Nigerian citizens drank by the soil of the country, has cried out for help in desperation beyond the shores of Nigeria, and the whole world is aghast.

In this interview with VINCENT KALU, Turaki encourages President Tinubu to defy all odds and stand in solidarity with the oppressed and marginalised Nigerian citizens.

What should the federal government do now that the US President, Donald Trump, has threatened military action against terrorists in Nigeria?

First and foremost, we as Nigerians should repent of our sins of hypocrisy, falsehood and lies, deceptive narratives and propaganda, folly and foolishness, and evil and wickedness against our neglected Nigerians, who have been oppressed and marginalised by the terrorists for years. Our IDPs have languished in make-shift shelters for years. This is deplorable. They exist as if they do not have a government that cares about their horrible conditions, while their tormentors are being well taken care of as the repented terrorists. Nigerian inhumanity is beyond measure.

None of the powers that be have stood in solidarity with these people, or have shown remorse, or sympathy, but aloofness, callousness and indifference. The Nigerian abuse of Christian leaders, who stood with the victims of terrorists and murderous bandits, and cried out to the international community for help, should be stopped.

Secondly, it took the US President to stand in solidarity with Nigerians, who have been subjected to pervasive and persistent mass killings and genocide. The blood of innocent Nigerian citizens which the soil and grounds of the lands of Nigeria have soaked and drunk, has cried out for help in desperation beyond the shores of Nigeria, and the whole world is aghast, watching with dismay Nigerians’ confused and retrogressive debates as if the word ‘genocide’ has become an anathema. The question is: what are Nigerians going to do with the question of genocide and massive killings, land grabbing and the occupation of the ancestral lands and the mass IDPs in the Northern states? We have listened to all manner of lies and deceptions about the very question of massive killings and genocide, but none of such persons has stood in solidarity with the Christians, Muslims and the traditionalists who for years have been bastardised inhumanely by the terrorists and jihadists. These oppressed citizens of Nigeria stand in need of a saviour and relief, which they have found in President Trump. See how Nigerians are charging like toothless bulls for their self-destruction. What is the fuss and fury about?

Thirdly, President Bola Tinubu and his entire cabinet, National Assembly, the Judiciary and all the security agencies should regroup themselves and stand for the truth and justice to prevail unfailingly in Nigeria, and see to it that no Nigerian is oppressed. They should defy the rattling voices of the hypocrites, false narrators, and manipulators, and all stand in solidarity with the oppressed Nigerian citizens, and to resolve to root out all forms of terrorism and terrorists in Nigeria.

Donald Trump’s warfare is not against the good citizens of Nigeria, or the Nigerian state, but only terrorism and the terrorists. It is our moral failures that have forcefully brought in President Trump. Let us bury the hatchet and blame ourselves for being heartless, callous, uncaring and indifferent to the plight of the oppressed Nigerians.

Fourthly, Tinubu knows very well that the entire security outfit of Nigeria and government institutions have been seriously compromised and have become ineffective in eradicating terrorism and the terrorists. The commanding voice of Mr. President only falls upon sedated and seared hearts and consciences of his lieutenants. The harder he commands, less the results we see. He should totally and be fully resolved and committed to using the available resources from President Trump and other good nations to rid Nigeria of the scourge of the carnage. What a shame for the giant of Africa! Those who disappointed Mr. President are the ones who are quick in proffering excuses venting their contrived anger at Nigerians who are crying as a result of suffocating genocide and mass killings.

Fifthly, the president should come out boldly and stand in solidarity with the terrorised Hausa in Hausaland, Kanuri in Kanuriland, Christians and Muslims in the Middle Belt and across the length and breadth of the North. This is the only sure way of securing the goodwill and favour of Nigerians.

Sixthly, men of truth, wisdom and goodness should overcome men of falsehood and lies, folly and foolishness, and evil and wickedness. We have become a country of liars, foolishness and wickedness. We have been lying to ourselves. We have lied in our homes. We have lied in our path ways, roads and streets. We have lied in our offices and places of work. We have lied in our places of worship. We have lied to ourselves in the newspapers, radio & televisions, mass media and social media. We have lied in our institutions and organisations. Certainly, Nigerians stand in need of the revival of our moral, social, spiritual and ethical values. The voice of good and patriotic Nigerians has been dwarfed and drowned by voice of injustice and wickedness.

Nigeria is a sovereign nation. Why should the US want to interfere in her domestic affairs?

Some Nigerians have generated their parochial views by vowing to fight America on this hypothetical interference on account of Nigeria being a sovereign state. But they have never vowed to save their brothers and sisters from the hands of the marauding terrorists and the new Nigerian gospel, which preaches that salvation can only be found in violence and corruption. These are two major values that rule Nigeria today. Honest and sincere Nigerians are looked upon as having come mars.

You also asked about interference in domestic affairs. What are our domestic affairs? Is it the genocide, mass killings, massacres, land invasion and grabbing? Should the moral value of defending, protecting and promoting the well-being of every Nigerian be seen as interference and a social and political crime? How many Nigerians feel protected by their state? If a sovereign nation is incapable of creating and maintaining peace, peaceful coexistence, harmony, and a conducive and viable society, how questionable is its sovereignty? The non-state actors are the ones controlling the vast fields and lands of the North. Their menacing presence is felt more than the protection of the state.

If what all the noise that some Nigerians make and say do not amount to liberation and justice, then it shows that Nigerians prefer the status quo and the continuity of genocide and mass killings. Some Nigerians are angry, bitter and fearful on account of the narrative of genocide and mass killings of innocent Nigerian citizens.

Why is there so much shouting following the US threat?

The supposed US threat is feared more than the freedom of the oppressed and marginalised Nigerian citizens. They have gone all out to vent their venom on President Trump and Christian leaders and have invariably forgotten about the plight of their brothers and sisters under the reign of terror of the terrorists. They prefer to preserve the Nigerian state as against the imaginary President Trump’s invasion, than to stand in solidarity for the oppressed Nigerians. The greatest sin of President Trump is his standing in solidarity with the oppressed Nigerians as against their ‘holy and righteous abandonment’ of their kith and kin in the dark dungeons of the terrorists. Their anger is set against speaking the truth of genocide and mass killings. They hate anyone who stands for the truth or anyone who speaks for the oppressed Christians, Muslims and traditionalists of Hausaland, Kanuriland and the entire Middle Belt. They have woven false narratives against anyone who dares to mention the word ‘genocide’ in Nigeria They have labelled such people as traitors, saboteurs, unpatriotic, and agents of divisions and lack of unity.

The only good Nigerians are those who can deny the facts of genocide and mass killings; those who can reject the religious factor and also reject revealing the identities of the terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. Keep it closed and sealed. If speaking the truth is divisive, can blatant lies and deception build and unite Nigeria? The merchant sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria and outside are so worried of being exposed, should President Trump and President Tinubu join hands together and go after them. Suddenly, they have become the best advisers and patriotic Nigerians to President Tinubu. Some Nigerians are very good at sycophancy and hypocrisy. Unfortunately, these are the ones found around the corridors of power as political merchants.

In the world today, there are global civilizing forces that rule the world. And any nation that lacks any of these does not count in the comity of nations. Progressive and enterprising nations aspire to have at least one of these: advanced science (scientism) and technology (technicism); democratic theory and practice of state; market economy (economism and capitalism; and transport and communication systems. Nigeria as a sovereign state does not have any of these. For this reason, she lacks the voice and political power vis-à-vis the world powerful nations.

President Trump has all of these in excess and President Tinubu has none. Let us not push our dear president with our abstract and non-corporeal foolish talk. Probably, the only thing that we can do is pump our pride into empty bursting balloons. We should learn to be wise, humble and reasonable. Let us not be foolish as some groups of people do who kill and bomb people and claim to be fighting an external aggressor. Let us guard against some Nigerians who may start killing and bombing Nigerians under the pretext of fighting Trump in America.

The leader of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Ishaq Akintola, has accused CAN and PFN leaders of trying to destabilize the nation. What do you say to this?

It is unfortunate for a religious group to accuse the other for speaking the truth about genocide. Between the two who is a pathetic liar, and being more deceitful and divisive? Is it MURIC or CAN and PFN? Is this group trying to portray that Christians are the troublemakers in Nigeria?

How many terrorist groups do we have in Northern Nigeria alone? Which religious group do they all belong? MURIC might have assumed that Nigerians are ignorant of the true historical facts of the character traits of all religious groups in Nigeria. Yet, on seeing these religious and ethnic contradictions, MURIC has the moral courage to assert that Christian leaders are the ones destabilising Nigeria. Can the brand of Islam and ideology of MURIC be adopted as a unifying factor of building Nigeria? And by the way, who takes this group as a serious Islamic group, apart from being a pocking joker in Nigeria?

Are you not afraid of religious war breaking out?

Could a religious war break out, if the Muslims are against Nigerians fighting the terrorists? I doubt it very seriously. We have very good Muslims with very good religious faith, who hate acts of terrorism and genocide. Not all Muslims in Nigeria are Islamists. Such good Muslims are not going to go for a religious war with their counterpart Christians. Religious war will not break out as all religious bodies have the capacity to broker peace among themselves. Nigeria has NIREC that can be an arbiter between the two groups. Nigeria is full of good Muslims, good traditionalists and good Christians. Should what you asked about happen, I would present myself as one of the chief advocates of peace in Nigeria. Both Christianity and Islam are not indigenous but foreign comers. It is our lack of creation orders that often leads to religious crises and wars. God ethic covers every human being, universally. Creation ethic covers every human being universally. Primal human ethic covers every human being universally. And national ethic covers every human being leaving within a nation-state. The morality and ethics of creation precedes any human religion, philosophy, science, race, ethnicity and nation-state. Every human being has creational relationship and responsibility towards every human being regardless.

Human beings use corrupted interpretations of God and religion to persecute their fellow human beings. You judge the character and principles of religion by the eternal, holy, righteous and just character and attributes of God. Whenever one sees the attitudes, behaviours and practice of any religion that is inferior to the norms and values of human beings, it is so because human beings have the character and attributes of God with their corrupt reason and senses. All efforts should be on deck to forestall that happening and unite all religions under the true religion of God, devoid of the forms of religion created out of human corruption.

In 2014, President Bola Tinubu lambasted then President Goodluck Jonathan for doing nothing while Christians were being slaughtered. Now, Tinubu is singing another tune. What is your take on this?

Human beings are always capable of changing their minds depending upon time, seasons and circumstances. Put this question aside. The challenge now for Mr. President is for him to stop the killings as the only last word. To stop the genocide, mass killings, mass invasions and occupations of the ancestral lands of vulnerable communities across the Northern states is the task that must be done. This accomplished task can turn the tide of Nigerian social dynamics and politics. For certain, his enemies will make sure he does not succeed. They may present him with advice and policies that will anger President Trump and comity of nations that may turn against him. They may increase the tempo of terrorism, genocide and killings as they did against President Goodluck Jonathan. They may increase the killings of the Hausa in Hausaland, Kanuri in Kanuriland, and the Middle Belters in the Middle Belt, so that these groups can turn against him. The best effective, fruitful and successful political language for President Tinubu now, is for him to defy all odds and stand in solidarity with the oppressed and marginalised Nigerian citizens. Mr. President inherited a failing state from his good friend, Buhari with such huge problems and challenges of governance and leadership. Nigeria needs prayers. Our father, General Yakubu Gowon (Retd), had instituted, “Nigeria Prays.” Let us follow in his footsteps. (The Sun)