One is hard-pressed not to feel the heavy load of the charge leveled against Trump, not so much because it is a charge made by a foreign leader, but because it reflects the anxieties, frustrations, and disillusionments that had been plaguing many Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike, over the years. The fact of the matter is that insecurity has caused a collective national tragedy. The villages are being destroyed, families are being displaced, and lives are being lost daily, but the voice of those who have power is not usually reflective of the seriousness of the crisis at hand.
The comments of Abdullahi are a jab at a feeling that has been near boiling, that the government will never admit defeat, and thus cannot take a different road. As soon as the silence of the state is more deafening than the screams of its population, it calls outside voices, which are sometimes scornful and sometimes rapacious, to speak in its place.
Maybe it is time that the leadership of Nigeria wakes up and realizes that it is not about the politics of denial nor the imagery of sovereignty. Nigerians do not need another blame game or international humiliation but real people action that they can see. Security needs to be restored as a community interest and not a political agenda.
This is not only because a government safeguards every citizen irrespective of religious beliefs or geographical location but also because it puts dignity back in place. Until then, such utterances as those of Trump will keep resonating, not due to their pleasing sound, but because such utterances are revealing the truth, which we can no longer avoid.
