Sam Erhunmwunsee
The Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, has restated Federal Government commitment to protecting all citizens regardless of faith, citing recent counterterrorism operations and community peace-building initiatives as evidence of its efforts.
The NOA DG, stated this during the monthly joint security press briefing held at the NOA headquarters in Abuja , in response to Nigeria’s redesignation as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the United States government, a move that came after US President Donald Trump publicly accused Nigerian authorities of turning a blind eye to the killing of Christians.
He dismissed claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, stating that he was certain the United States had committed “another error in their intelligence gathering.”
Issa-Onilu said the allegations were false and unfair to Nigeria, arguing that even the US was aware that there was no systematic persecution of Christians in the country.
Issa-Onilu stated further, ”Let me speak specifically to some of the import of the tweet. One is to say that the Christian genocide in Nigeria, I’m sure even America knows that is not true. This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States has failed America.
“It failed them in Iraq. It turned out that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and they apologised. It failed them in Libya and many other instances. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering.”
The NOA boss stated that the recent shake-up among Nigeria’s security chiefs demonstrated that the country was working seriously to strengthen its internal security and address communal and religious violence.
He explained that President Tinubu had last week, changed the top echelons of the military to ensure that the system is rejigged and empowered to do more.
Issa-Onilu hinted that the National Security Adviser and the newly appointed service chiefs were expected to brief the media from the Office of the National Security Adviser, where they would “provide an adequate response to the allegations of genocide.”
