‘I receive calls from friends and relatives in my village in Kebbi state, Nigeria, who in desperation ask for my prayers as I could attest to the need myself at the hearing of gun shots in the backgrounds of the calls,’ a friend of mine in Canada recounted.

A girls’ boarding school had twenty-five teenage girls abducted a few days ago and the school vice principal murdered in cold blood in Kebbi state, my friend’s state of origin. His community is particularly frequently targeted because it is a Christian community.

I chose this personal experience because it is typical of the everyday experiences of hundreds of Christian communities in Northern Nigeria, especially in states like Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Taraba, and Adamawa States. Well-planned massacres of entire Christian communities have been perpetrated by Islamic terrorists to the dismay of the locals who have felt inadequately protected by the nation’s military. It is sad that there have been arguments about semantics. Some have claimed Donald Trump was wrong to categorise the crime as Genocide (and he is right by the dictionary meaning).

The discussion has been divisive as expected. While the hydra-headed nature of criminality in Nigeria means the muslims themselves are targets of heinous crimes, they are not victimised on the basis of their faith. Every life matters to God and so the plight of all Nigerians suffering terrorist attacks and banditry should be condemned. However, that does not call for standing the truth on its head and not admitting the genocidal killings that Christian’s suffer as a result of their Faith. Our Northern Christian populace are full of loads of widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers were heinously killed in senseless attacks.

Is it true that the United States of America is interested in rare earth minerals from our soil? Probably, but that is not a concern for a man whose life is under threat and who cannot protect his wife and children. That is the last thing on the mind of a widow whose only son’s life is under the threat of religious persecutors or banditry. They simply want Trump to do what their government cannot do for them (that is, secure their lives and properties).

Truth be told, no sovereign nation will enjoy the intervention of another. I cannot imagine how Donald Trump’s invasion of Nigeria will be effective without being done in cooperation with our own military who know and understand the terrains of the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in the North that God will protect them, heal their broken hearts, and provide for the needy multitudes of widows and orphans. Let us pray that our government will sit up and be courageous enough to confront the criminals on rampage in our nation. As for Donald Trump, we pray he continues to mount pressure on the Nigerian government and hold them accountable for the security of all lives. May God use his voice and threats as a wake-up call to our government to be awake to their responsibility to protect Nigerians.

This is the prayer of all well-meaning Nigerians, including mine who cannot visit my peaceful and exciting village for Christmas because of criminal Fulani herdsmen who are kidnapping people and cutting their lives in their prime.

Victor Adeyemi