The Labour Party has described the offer of protection of Nigerian Christians from terrorists’ attacks by the American President, Donald Trump, as “timely and highly commendable.”
The party in a statement by the interim National Publicity Secretary Prince Tony Akeni, however wants the protection to be extended to “liberal and moderate Muslim communities,” whom the party said, “are also targeted and in some occasions killed because of their sympathy or support for their Christian neighbours.”
Labour Party recalled that President Bola Tinubu, in a statement on his official Twitter handle, now X, on January 19, 2014, admitted and condemned “The slaughtering of Christian worshippers,” which he said, “call to question the competence of (former President Goodluck) Jonathan to protect Nigerians.”
According to the statement, at the time Tinubu made that statement, verified data showed that 11,000 Christians in Nigeria were killed by Islamists between 2009 to 2014.
“This genocide figure was by Boko Haram alone. Then another dimension of Christian massacres began from 2010 when Jihad extremists masquerading as Fulani herdsmen murdered another 6,500 Christians in another four-year period between 2010 and 2015.”
The party however stated that about 14, 122 Nigerians have been killed between 2023 and 2025 under under Tinubu’s watch as president.
Labour Party further recalled how Tinubu and late former President Muhammadu Buhari led a high-powered All Progressives Congress (APC) delegation to the United States to meet then US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, where they accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of incompetent in handling the country’s security challenges.
“This was on January 25, 2015. The mission was to drive home the point that insecurity in Nigeria was intolerable and they needed the support of the US government to help stop the genocide in Nigeria by getting rid of the Jonathan administration.
“It is therefore …unpatriotic of Bola Tinubu, now as president, to deny that there are no targeted Christian massacres in Nigeria.
“It is the height of shameless selfishness, betrayal of the Nigeria constitution and treason for either him or any agency speaking for the administration to deny that there are no Christian massacres in Nigeria, especially considering that the figure of victims that made Tinubu and Buhari to lead a protest delegation to the United States in 2015 has now doubled under Tinubu’s administration,” the party stated.
It accused the Islamic extremist of massacre, deprivation of livelihood through violent farmland dispossession and displacements across many parts of Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt states.
The Labour Party commended President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Senator Ted Cruz, the United States Secretary of War Peter Hegseth, former Mayor Mike Arnold and other Americans, “for the immense work of research, evaluation and conviction they have demonstrated in their intervention initiative.”
The party also commended the several Nigerian Muslim leaders and elites “who have demonstrated remarkable patriotism in supporting the Donald Trump initiative to help protect their Nigerian Christian brethren, communities and their livelihood for collective peace and progress.
“They have shown by such great spirit of mutual humanity that one united Nigeria, irrespective of religion and political differences, is truly possible, if we have good leaders in place,” the party said.
