By Joe Udo
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – There was tension on the floor of the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday following a heated disagreement between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Senator Barau Jibrin, over how the National Assembly should respond to United States President Donald Trump’s recent military threat against Nigeria.
The drama began when Senator Akpabio addressed a viral online report claiming he had rebuffed Trump’s comments and allegedly said Nigerians were “not complaining” about their condition. The Senate President, visibly displeased, denied ever making such statements, describing the publication as “false and malicious.”
“Who am I to answer President Trump? Somebody said that the Senate President said Nigerians are not complaining, that we like the way we are living. I have petitioned the police and the DSS,” Akpabio said.
He maintained that the story was fabricated to “create diplomatic tension” and “discredit the National Assembly.”
“I am saying this time, the Senate President did not answer President Trump. That quotation is meant to cause a diplomatic row. It is the Presidency that will answer President Trump. And who is that person who ascribed comments to me that I never made?” he asked.
Akpabio further alleged that the images circulating online were doctored.
“Somebody will sit in the comfort of his room and fabricate a report, and produce fake pictures from 2023 when I visited Port Harcourt with senators for a completely different event, and then claim that the Senate President answered President Trump. Who am I to answer Trump?” he said, drawing laughter from some lawmakers.
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However, the atmosphere quickly changed when Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin interrupted, saying he was unafraid of Trump and that Nigerian lawmakers had the right to speak freely.
“I’m not scared of Trump. I will say my mind. I’m a Nigerian. Nigeria is a sovereign nation,” Barau declared. “I’m a parliamentarian, the Deputy Senate President, I can speak. Don’t be scared of Trump. You can say your mind about Trump. We are a sovereign nation.”
Barau’s comments momentarily lightened the chamber but also exposed a difference in opinion between the two presiding officers on how the legislature should respond to Trump’s threat.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has urged President Trump to respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and desist from any plans to deploy American troops to the country.
Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to President Bola Tinubu, made this position known during an interview on Russia National TV on Monday.
Bwala dismissed the allegations forming the basis of Trump’s threat as part of an orchestrated media campaign to portray the Tinubu administration as anti-Christian. He said independent global monitors and credible civil society organisations have found no evidence of state-backed religious genocide in Nigeria.
“We try our best to downplay the rhetoric because we know for sure that that can be the reflection of the realities on ground,” he said.
He accused U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz, of being misled by sympathisers of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) into believing there was a Christian genocide in Nigeria.
“The decision of President Trump is anchored on the various tweets and pushes by congressmen. And the congressmen rely on a data and report that were submitted by a separatist group in Nigeria called IPOB, that there’s a genocide of Christians in Nigeria, which is false because all intelligence and non-governmental organisations that carry out research and data about killings in Nigeria, none but these two that have affiliation with IPOB that indicated that there is a Christian genocide. In fact, even the content of the data contradict that,” Bwala added.
The development has drawn both domestic and international attention as Nigeria braces for possible diplomatic implications following Trump’s remarks.
