The All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned a call for foreign intervention in Nigeria made by the new National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki.
The APC described the appeal as “reckless, unpatriotic,” and a dangerous threat to national sovereignty, in a blistering press statement issued on Tuesday and signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.
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Mr Turaki, while speaking to journalists at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday, pleaded with President Trump to intervene in Nigeria to rescue its democracy. He cited the ongoing crisis within his party and what he described as the need to protect Nigerians from alleged “Christian genocide” and safeguard democracy.
“I want to call on President Trump…. What is at stake is not just genocide against Christians; he should come and save democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is under threat. I am calling on all other developed nations, all advanced democracies, come and save Nigeria, come and save democracy,” he said.
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The APC dismissed the appeal as a desperate attempt to attract international attention amid Mr Turaki’s struggle to manage his party’s internal divisions.
“For a man declared National Chairman barely 72 hours ago by a faction of his deeply fractured party, Turaki looked and sounded desperate, at his wit’s end, confused, incoherent, and grossly lacking in stamina and capacity to manage his party’s crisis,” Mr Morka said.
In the statement, the APC argued that Mr Turaki’s first official act as PDP factional chairman should have been focused on peace-building and reconciliation within his party, rather than seeking foreign intervention.
“Nigerians expected that Turaki would set himself on an urgent peace-building mission to bring his party’s warring factions together in dialogue towards finding possible pathways to peace and reconciliation.
“Instead, Turaki’s first official act as factional chairman was his call for foreign invasion of Nigeria as a solution to the self-inflicted internal crisis of his PDP. That is as shameless as it is a dangerous threat to national security and sovereignty,” it read.
The APC further contended that during the PDP’s 16 years in power at the federal level, no similar calls for foreign intervention were made to resolve internal party disputes.
“Turaki’s call is not only an admission of the PDP’s incapacity to manage its internal contradictions; it must be taken as a final certification of the PDP’s demise,” the statement added.
The Christian genocide controversy
Mr Turaki’s appeal referred to alleged “Christian genocide” in Nigeria, a term often used to describe recurrent attacks on Christian communities, particularly in the North and Middle Belt. These attacks, which include killings, abductions, and destruction of property, are frequently linked to armed groups such as Boko Haram and Fulani extremist militias.
While the situation has drawn attention from human rights groups and some international observers, the APC described Mr Turaki’s framing of the issue as politically motivated and exaggerated.
The US President, Donald Trump, also designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, a status reserved for nations that are engaged in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act.
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According to the APC, using claims of religious persecution to justify foreign intervention is dangerous and unpatriotic, as it undermines Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security.
The ruling urged Nigerians to disregard what it described as a distraction from the PDP’s internal failings and reaffirmed its support for the party and President Bola Tinubu. The statement also called on the international community to dismiss Mr Turaki’s appeal as a political ploy rather than a genuine humanitarian concern.
“The heightened desperation of the PDP and other opposition leaders is now clear for all to see. Turaki’s call shows how far they are willing to go, even to the extent of actively seeking the destructive intervention of foreign powers on Nigerian soil to serve their sinister political agenda,” the statement said.
The APC called on Nigerians to remain steadfast in support of the ruling party and the Tinubu administration’s agenda to build “progress and prosperity in all areas of our national life.”
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