Prof. Ebenezer Obadare, the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), has cautioned that Nigeria will remain unable to overcome its deepening insecurity without a clear, forceful and sustained strategy to neutralise Boko Haram.
Obadare issued the warning on Tuesday during a joint congressional briefing convened by the US House Appropriations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The session is part of a wider investigation by US lawmakers into rising religious persecution and the targeted killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Addressing members of Congress, Obadare proposed a two-pronged policy direction for Washington: to work closely with the Nigerian military in dismantling Boko Haram, and to mount diplomatic pressure on Abuja to reform domestic laws by declaring Sharia provisions unconstitutional in the twelve northern states that adopted them since 2000, as well as disband Hisbah groups that enforce Islamic codes on non-Muslims.
According to him, Nigeria’s security challenges are inseparable from the activities of violent extremist organisations, with Boko Haram posing the most formidable threat.
“The deadliest and most serious threat confronting the Nigerian state today is jihadist terror, perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram,” he told lawmakers. “Boko Haram’s barbarous and implacable campaign to overthrow the Nigerian state and establish an Islamic caliphate in its stead is the source of Nigeria’s present discontents.”
He stressed that any effort to resolve Nigeria’s security breakdown that does not give primacy to the decisive degradation of Boko Haram “is a non-starter.”
Obadare further urged the United States to intensify diplomatic and strategic pressure on Abuja, noting that recent adjustments in Nigeria’s approach to insecurity have been driven by credible external pressure.
He cited the country’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and President Donald Trump’s threat of unilateral military action against Boko Haram as developments that pushed the Nigerian government to act.
The international relations scholar also noted that President Bola Tinubu has taken several steps following these pressures, including ordering targeted air strikes against Boko Haram positions, approving the recruitment of 30,000 additional police personnel, and most recently declaring a national security emergency.
Tuesday’s briefing followed Trump’s 31 October directive ordering the House Appropriations Committee to investigate the massacre of Christians in Nigeria and make recommendations to the White House.
The session was led by Appropriations Vice Chair and National Security Subcommittee Chairman, Mario Díaz-Balart, alongside Representatives Robert Aderholt, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, and Chris Smith.
Experts in foreign affairs and religious freedom – including Obadare, Vicky Hartzler of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Sean Nelson of ADF International – provided assessments of Nigeria’s deteriorating security landscape and proposed policy responses.
The committee is expected to submit a comprehensive report to the President outlining how Congress can support efforts to curb religious persecution and strengthen national security in Nigeria.
Source: Channels Television
