The Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, has slammed United States President, Donald Trump, for describing Nigeria as a disgraced country.
This is just as the Northern Elders’ Forum and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria also criticised Trump for threatening the sovereignty of Nigeria.
While NEF denounced what it called a “dangerous pattern of foreign interference,” Miyetti Allah said it was outraged by attempts to link the association to terrorism and religious extremism.
Trump had, in a recent White House briefing, threatened to “take decisive action” if the killing of Christians continued in Nigeria.
Jibrin condemned Trump’s military threat, describing his statement as “un-American” and “a violation of international law.”
Speaking in a viral video which trended on Friday, the Deputy Senate President said, “But for now, for the president of the United States to come in and say, ‘Oh, you are doing this and we are going to attack you, and Nigeria is a disgraced country’ — this is quite unacceptable.”
“We feel that he should understand, then retract that statement and apologise to Nigeria.”
He maintained that the American leader’s utterances breached diplomatic decorum and contravened established international law.
“It’s against international law. Whatever you feel about our country, follow the legal route. Go to the United Nations, get a resolution there, and then anything can come later. To bypass that route is quite unacceptable. It’s un-American,” he stated.
Jibrin, who spoke passionately before a gathering that applauded him, said Nigeria would not be intimidated by Trump’s threats.
“We are not scared to say the truth. We are not scared of telling Trump the truth. If he were here, I would tell him he has gone against international law and that the route he’s taking is not the best one to take,” he added.
Also speaking to Saturday PUNCH, the NEF spokesperson, Prof. Abubakar Jiddere, warned that northern leaders and the people of the region would not tolerate any form of external meddling in the country’s affairs under the pretext of fighting insecurity.
“Nigeria is not an appendage of America. Donald Trump is violating international treaties of the United Nations on the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. And we here in the North are not going to tolerate that,” Jiddere said.
He accused the United States of creating instability in several countries it claimed to have helped, citing Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Afghanistan as examples where American intervention caused chaos and suffering.
