HARARE, November 8. /TASS/. Deputy chairman of the Senate (upper house of parliament) of Nigeria Barau Jibrin demanded that US President Donald Trump apologize for his statements about Nigeria, the Daily Post reported.
He described Trump's assessment of Nigeria, which he called "a disgraced country" and "a country of particular concern," as insulting and undiplomatic.
"For the president of the United States to come in and say, ‘Oh, you are doing this and we are going to attack you, and Nigeria is a disgraced country’ — this is quite unacceptable," the newspaper quoted the politician as saying. " We feel that he should understand, then retract that statement and apologize to Nigeria."
According to him, Trump's remarks do not correspond to the values that the United States claims to defend. No foreign leader has the right to make baseless military threats, the politician added.
On November 1, Trump said he had instructed the Pentagon to prepare possible military measures against "Islamic terrorists" in Nigeria to protect Christians. Earlier, he claimed that Christians in Nigeria are under existential threat and promised to protect them. On the same day, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu rejected Trump's accusations, saying that describing Nigeria as a country of religious intolerance is wrong and that such assessments do not take into account his government's efforts to protect religious and conscience freedoms for all Nigerians. According to him, Abuja maintains an open and active dialogue with Christian and Muslim leaders, and continues to respond to security challenges that threaten residents regardless of their religious affiliation.