Olubadan Calls for Unity, Cautions Against U.S. Intervention Over Trump’s Genocide Warning
By: Israel Adeleke
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports that, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, has described the U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent warning about an alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria as a wake-up call for Nigerians to unite against terrorism rather than divide along religious lines.
OTN News further reports that, the monarch made the remark while receiving the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, at his palace in Oke Aremo, Ibadan, over the weekend.
Oba Ladoja said terrorism in Nigeria had persisted for more than a decade, dating back to the latter part of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2014.
He noted that the attacks had claimed thousands of lives, displaced countless families, and destroyed properties worth trillions of naira despite successive administrations’ efforts to combat insecurity.
“Many people have been killed, and property worth an inestimable amount of money destroyed. Multitudes of families, particularly women and children, have been displaced. Kidnappings have taken place,” the monarch lamented.
He commended former Presidents Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari as well as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their respective efforts in tackling insecurity but stressed that terrorism knows no religion.
“Terrorists do not differentiate between Muslims and Christians. They see everyone as prey, while they are the predator,” he said. “That is why we must stand together as one people and not allow religion to divide us.”
Oba Ladoja urged Bishop Oke and the Christian community to help calm aggrieved members who feel persecuted, assuring them that the present crisis will eventually pass.
The Olubadan also highlighted the religious harmony in South-West Nigeria, where people of different faiths coexist peacefully, and wondered why similar understanding has remained elusive in other regions.
While acknowledging global concern over insecurity in Nigeria, Oba Ladoja cautioned against direct foreign intervention, saying the country’s internal affairs should only be addressed through collaboration and mutual respect.
“While we appreciate international concern, the involvement of foreign powers like the United States should come only in the form of cooperation, not interference,” he advised.
Earlier in his remarks, Bishop Francis Wale Oke congratulated Oba Ladoja on his emergence as the 44th Olubadan of Ibadanland, praying that God grants him wisdom, knowledge, and strength to rule with fairness and divine guidance.
The meeting underscored the growing call for unity and religious tolerance amid renewed global scrutiny of Nigeria’s human rights and security challenges.
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