A nation’s dignity is built thread by thread through acts of courage, integrity, and sovereign will. It can, however, be undone with remarkable speed by a single act of cowardice. When U.S. President Donald Trump launched his inflammatory and broadly discredited narrative, branding Nigeria a global hub of religious persecution, he did far more than spread a simple falsehood; he set a test for our presidential courage.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, tragically, failed that test. What Nigerians witnessed was not the bold defense of the nation’s sovereignty they deserved, but a groveling, craven diplomatic lecture that felt less like a sovereign statesman’s rebuttal and more like a supplicant’s plea not to offend Washington.
To be clear, Trump’s remarks were not harmless political commentary. To dismiss them as such is to ignore the heavy geopolitical repercussions that follow such a label: the threat of sanctions, travel restrictions, cuts to vital aid, and the effect on investment that a country like Nigeria already grappling with profound economic challenges can not afford.
Trump unleashed a direct assault on our national character, a malicious mischaracterization that reduced our complex social fabric of interfaith families, shared communities, and common struggles to a crude and dangerous caricature. Such a damaging portrayal deserved a decisive rebuttal, armed with bold facts and assertive diplomacy.
Instead, President Tinubu responded with a tone that was puerile, slavish, and deferential, as though he were anxious just to stay in America’s good graces. It was the posture of a man too weak to challenge foreign falsehoods, too timid to defend his people from malicious mischaracterization, and too afraid to offend a U.S. president.
This cowardly positioning not only emboldens Trump’s narrative but constitutes a profound betrayal of every Nigerian who expects their leader to be the guardian of the nation’s honour reputation and dignity. There is no observer that could ignore the haunting political context of Tinubu’s over-cautious behavior.
His personal and legal history in the United States is mirred in a past punctuated by a 1990s civil forfeiture case involving alleged proceeds of narcotics trafficking. More recently, multiple legal battles over his academic records have added to a persistent cloud of dark suspicion.
One does not need to prove his guilt before recognizing the ugly perception that now defines Tinubu’s international posture: He acts like a man who fears what American institutions know about him, and what they may yet choose to reveal.
That unspoken but palpable fear may explain why his reply to Trump reeked of such profound insecurity, as if every word was deliberately measured and constrained by the possibility that U.S. agencies could reopen old files, unseal damaging documents, and trigger political earthquakes back home in Nigeria.
A leader who is confident in his own legitimacy and unburdened by dark shadows from his past would have stood taller. He would have forcefully and publicly rejected the harmful misrepresentation by Trump. He would have asserted, without debate, dispute or apology, Nigeria’s sovereignty and pluralistic identity.
He might have even gone the extra mile to exact diplomatic consequences for the reckless dissemination of false misinformation against his country. Tinubu did none of that. His soft, servile response communicated something disastrous to the keenly watching world.
That Nigeria and it’s president can be bullied with lies, and he will respond not as a statesman but as a supplicant. This is not cautious diplomacy; it is vulnerability dressed in a statesman’s clothing. It sets a dangerous precedent that could invite further interference in our domestic issues and disrespect from both within and without our national borders.
For me, the bottom line is stark and very unpleasant. Tinubu’s response was politically cowardly, diplomatically subservient, strategically dangerous, and deeply unpresidential. Nigeria is a nation of fierce pride and immense potential and deserves a leader unafraid to speak truth to any power, even when that power speaks American English and commands a social media megaphone.
Until Tinubu finds the courage to shed the shackles of a past that seems to continuously haunt and tether him to silence that is not golden, Nigeria’s global posture will remain weak, compromised, and easily slandered.
Our dignity, our sovereignty, and our future as a respected nation demand a leader who understands that true strength cannot lie in appeasing bullies, but in looking them straight in the eye and speaking our truth without fear or apology. I pause here for now.
Haruna Yahaya Poloma
harunapoloma@yahoo.com
