The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, has criticized former U.S. President Donald Trump over his recent allegations of genocide in Nigeria, describing them as evidence of a failure of U.S. intelligence.
Speaking at the monthly National Joint Security Press Briefing held on Monday in Abuja, Issa-Onilu said Trump’s claims were baseless and reflected a pattern of intelligence failures by the United States in the past.
“This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States failed Americans. It failed in Iraq — it turned out there were no weapons of mass destruction, and they apologized. It failed them in Libya and in many other instances. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering,” Issa-Onilu stated.
He, however, acknowledged that while there are isolated killings in Nigeria, they do not amount to genocide, adding that such tragedies should never happen in any society.
His comments come after Donald Trump, in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform over the weekend, accused the Tinubu administration of overseeing genocide against Christians in Nigeria.
Trump claimed that he had directed the Pentagon to prepare a “plan of attack” against Nigeria if the alleged killings continued, warning that any U.S. military response would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
The former U.S. president reiterated the threat on Sunday, saying the U.S. would not tolerate continued violence against Christians in Africa’s most populous nation.
When asked if he was considering deploying U.S. troops or conducting airstrikes in Nigeria, Trump replied:
“Could be, I mean, a lot of things — I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Issa-Onilu dismissed the remarks as misguided and inflammatory, stressing that the Nigerian government remains committed to protecting all citizens and addressing security challenges through lawful and collaborative means.
