Senator Seriake Dickson believes the recent comments credited to US President, Donald Trump, is a welcome development, arguing that the remarks should spur Nigerian authorities to better finetune measures to end the scourge of insecurity
“President Trump’s statement is a wake-up call to action,” the Bayelsa West lawmaker wrote in a social media post captioned, “Alleged Genocide: My Stance On President Trump’s Statement”.
“If the Nigerian government is unable to address this issue effectively, then it must collaborate with those who can help us flush out these terrorists.”
Trump in an explosive post on social media said the US authorities will no longer tolerate what he described as the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria.
He declared Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).f
A day after that, he vowed to take military action in the West African nation if the government does not move fast in addressing the country’s security challenges.
He said the attack “will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians”.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. 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 who are committing these horrible atrocities,” he said on Truth Social.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Though the Nigerian government has denied genocide targeted at Christians with President Bola Tinubu saying his administration has taken steps to secure the country, Senator Dickson lamented the wave of insecurity across Nigeria.
“For almost 15 years, jihadist terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and affiliates of ISWAP, ISIS, al-Qaeda, and, more recently, groups like Lakurawa and Wulowulo, have wreaked unimaginable havoc,” the former governor of Bayelsa State said.
“They introduced suicide bombing in Nigeria and began a murderous campaign, especially in Borno State, from which it gradually spread across the northeastern part of our country.
“Places of worship — both churches and mosques, as well as palaces and traditional rulers have not been spared in their bloodbath. School children have been kidnapped, killed, or forcefully married off. The victims of these jihadist attacks, which began in Borno, were Muslims and Christians.”
He described these attacks as “a direct affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty” which “should not be tolerated any further”.
“Some of the footage of the carnage is unimaginable, while efforts by government and security agencies have clearly not been effective in tackling the menace,” he said.
The lawmaker backed “any collaborative action aimed at eradicating the murderous bands of terrorists who have wantonly slaughtered thousands of our countrymen and women — Christians, Muslims, and people of other faiths alike”.
