Ex-minister vows Nigerians will fight it out if Trump orders U.S. invasion

Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has declared that Nigerians would not run or surrender if the United States attempts to invade the country following a directive reportedly issued by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social account on Saturday, instructed the U.S. Department of War to prepare for a possible military operation in Nigeria, accusing the government of turning a blind eye to what he described as the “genocide of 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,” Trump wrote.

He added, “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”

Reacting in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Fani-Kayode lambasted Trump, calling him a tyrant and accusing him of making reckless threats against Nigeria.

“Imagine a deranged & sociopathic megalomaniac & tyrant, a recalcitrant and unrepentant schoolyard and dockside bully and a cheap and shameless godless scumbag like @realDonaldTrump threatening our country with violence, military action and invasion. What a nerve!” he wrote.

The former minister said a friend had reached out to him expressing concern about Trump’s remarks. Responding to the concern, he said Nigerians must be prepared to stand their ground rather than submit to foreign intimidation.

“My response to her was as follows. ‘You are right. They are evil and, if he carries out his abominable threat, there will be a war. We shall not leave the country but we will fight it out with them. We behaved like cowards and allowed them to demonise us with no response… maybe after it is all over they will appreciate the importance of having bold, articulate and courageous leaders & disavow themselves of their accursed cowardice, ignorance, pettiness, weakness, envy & complacency.’”

Fani-Kayode also accused Trump of hypocrisy, alleging that the former U.S. president turns a blind eye to atrocities elsewhere while seeking to label Nigeria with a genocide tag.

“Trump, a fascist & an associate of the globally recognized Hitler of the 21st century, @netanyahu, has refused to call the Israeli Zionist Nazis and the UAE-backed RSF butchers of Darfur, Sudan mass murderers and genocidal maniacs but he is calling our people the ‘killers of Christians’ and is desperately trying to label our nation with the genocide tag and create a crisis in Nigeria,” he added.

The former minister insisted that Nigeria must never allow itself to be bullied by Western powers and called for strong and fearless leadership to defend the nation’s sovereignty.