Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to break diplomatic relations with the United States if President Donald Trump fails to withdraw his recent threat of military action against Nigeria
Gumi’s reaction followed Trump’s declaration on Friday in which he redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged persecution of Christians.
Shortly after, the US president warned that Washington would “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 killing Christians.”
The comment sparked outrage in Nigeria and prompted further remarks from U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who said his department was preparing for potential intervention should the Nigerian government fail to end what he described as the “killing of innocent Christians.”
A group of right-wing American lawmakers, led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, have also intensified calls for Washington to take tougher action. Cruz recently introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, a bill seeking to punish Nigerian officials accused of “facilitating the mass murder of Christians.”
Responding to these developments, Gumi described Trump’s remarks as “a profound disrespect” to Nigeria’s sovereignty and urged Tinubu to take decisive action.
“For Trump to threaten a sovereign country with military attack is a profound disrespect to our authority, but we can rise above it,” Gumi stated.
He further advised, “President Tinubu should summon the US ambassador; they either retract their threats or we sever diplomatic ties with this irresponsible regime. There are lots of other options for our economic expansion and military alliance.”
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