The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, has dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s allegation of genocide in Nigeria as a failure of American intelligence.
Issa-Onilu made the remarks on Monday at the monthly National Joint Security press briefing in Abuja, noting that this is not the first time U.S. intelligence has faltered.
He cited past instances in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan where intelligence errors had significant consequences.
“This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States failed Americans. It failed in Iraq, it turned out that there was no weapon of mass destruction and they apologized,” he said.
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“It failed them in Libya and many other instances. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering. Beyond that, we all are Nigerians. We know that there are killings IN Nigeria and there are killings that should never happen.”
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The comments come after Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, claimed he had asked the Pentagon to draft a possible plan of attack in Nigeria. His statement followed warnings that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous country.
In the post, Trump warned that if Nigeria does not stop the killings, the United States would intervene militarily, stating it “will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians.”
Trump repeated the threat on Sunday after the Nigerian presidency suggested a diplomatic meeting to address the situation. When asked whether U.S. troops or air strikes were being considered, he 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,” Trump added.
