Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has criticised U.S. President Donald Trump over his threat to send American troops to Nigeria, describing the comments as reckless and rooted in a poor grasp of the country’s security complexities.
Soyinka spoke on Friday in Makurdi after a meeting with Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, warning that no foreign leader can intervene in Nigeria’s internal security problems without understanding their depth and origins.
He faulted Trump for suggesting he would “come to help” Nigeria with force, dismissing the remarks as careless and disrespectful.
“You don’t just open your mouth and say, ‘I’m coming to help you whether you like it or not, I’m coming with violence from outside,’ with almost no analysis of the complexities of the problem,” Soyinka said.
He added that Trump’s promise of a “fast, vicious and swift” military intervention showed a troubling mindset.
“Is that the language of somebody whose head is correct?” he asked, stressing that while governments must protect citizens, victims deserve respect—not political grandstanding.
Soyinka has long argued that Nigeria’s insecurity is driven not by religion but by extremist groups exploiting faith for political and economic gain.
Trump had on October 31 redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”, alleging widespread killings of Christians and threatening to intervene militarily if the attacks continued.
President Bola Tinubu rejected the claims, saying they do not reflect Nigeria’s realities.
On Thursday, U.S. lawmakers, officials, religious leaders, and witnesses expressed sharply divided opinions on Trump’s position during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa.
Soyinka’s remarks add to growing pushback within Nigeria over what many describe as Trump’s oversimplified and inflammatory rhetoric.
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