The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, has faulted the recent comments by United States President Donald Trump, describing his allegation of genocide in Nigeria as another failure of the American intelligence system.
Speaking at the National Joint Security Press Briefing in Abuja, Issa-Onilu said Trump’s remarks were based on flawed intelligence reports similar to past U.S. missteps in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.
“This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States failed Americans. It failed in Iraq — it turned out there was no weapon of mass destruction, and they apologized. It failed them in Libya and many other instances,” Issa-Onilu said.
“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,” he added.
Issa-Onilu’s remarks followed a controversial post by President Trump on his Truth Social platform, where he alleged that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Nigeria and warned that he had directed the Pentagon to “map out a possible plan of attack” against the country.
In the post, Trump threatened that if the Nigerian government failed to stem the killings, the U.S. military would strike “fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians.”
The comment, which drew global outrage, came barely 24 hours after the Nigerian Presidency called for dialogue with Washington to address concerns over religious freedom and internal security.
Trump later reiterated his stance on Sunday, insisting that America would not “stand by” while Christians were attacked in Africa’s most populous nation.
Issa-Onilu, however, described the U.S. President’s remarks as “reckless” and “uninformed,” noting that Nigeria’s sovereignty and internal peace processes must be respected.
He emphasized that security agencies were working collaboratively to curb all forms of violence in the country and to ensure the protection of all citizens regardless of faith or ethnicity.
