Deceptive Diplomacy: Comic from Washington and the Cries at Home
By Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi
The Nigerian government has embarked on a diplomatic pilgrimage to Washington, DC, led by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to discuss terrorism, insecurity, and persecution of Christians. Yet never in the history of political theatre has a delegation arrived to solve a problem it denies at home. A nation that insists there is no Christian Genocide in Nigeria is now begging America for a remedy to what it claims does not exist.
If there were awards for international hypocrisy, Abuja’s delegation would return with a gold medal.
While Ribadu and his team were flying across the Atlantic to plead for help, Nigeria’s soil was soaked with fresh tears. Only a few hours before they began their diplomatic choreography, twenty-five schoolgirls were abducted in Kebbi State. As they settled into Washington’s negotiation room, a CAC Church in Kwara was invaded and worshippers brutalized. This is not coincidence; it is a blood-written indictment.
Nigeria spoke one truth in blood and a contradictory lie in diplomacy.
Comic Diplomacy Meets Grim Reality
The federal government continues to shout: “It is not genocide!” Yet those who bury the dead speak with a different voice. If a government that refuses to name a crime travels abroad to negotiate solutions for that same crime, what exactly should America believe?
Washington listened — not to the rehearsed talking points of Abuja, but to the desperate truth shouted today by a united coalition of Nigerian Christian organizations and civil society groups. These organizations, representing the battered conscience of a blood-stained nation, declared boldly that what Nigeria suffers is Genocide, not mere insecurity, not communal clashes, not random banditry.
Their demand is clear: Let international investigators come. Let the truth speak louder than propaganda. A guilty nation fears investigation; an innocent one requests it.
When Tragedy Becomes Data and Victims Become Statistics
The most despicable argument used to deny genocide is: “Muslims are victims too.”
Yes, but who is killing them? Southern Kaduna Christians are not killing Sokoto Muslims. Plateau believers are not bombing mosques in Zamfara. It is Islamic terrorist groups killing both Christians and Muslims. Christians are targeted for their identity; Muslims who oppose the ideology are collateral damage. This distinction is what defines genocide: the targeted destruction of a people based on who they are.
A nation that weaponizes confusion to silence truth cannot claim sovereignty. Sovereignty does not shield mass murder; it carries the duty to prevent it.
Sovereignty Ends Where the State Refuses to Protect Lives
The coalition has invoked international law, declaring what every morally conscious observer already knows:
America and the international community are legally obligated under the UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine to intervene if Nigeria fails to stop ongoing mass atrocities.
Nigeria cannot run to Washington for help while threatening those who cry for global assistance at home.
You cannot deny the fire and then arrest those calling the fire department.
Washington Will Not Listen to Abuja Alone
This country’s loudest truth tellers are not those sitting in diplomatic lounges. They are the journalists documenting unspeakable killings, the NGOs burying the dead side-by-side with grieving families, the human rights defenders speaking at risk to their lives, and the church communities who preach hope beside fresh graves.
These are the voices America is morally obligated to hear.
Diplomats can negotiate interests. Survivors negotiate truth.
The Road Ahead: Truth Must Precede Diplomacy
Nigeria does not need more politically convenient statements. It needs a forensic investigation into genocidal crimes. Those who deny genocide should welcome investigators, unless they fear what investigators will find.
Today, the cries of Christians are no longer whispers. The coalition has thrown down the gauntlet. The burden of proof is no longer on the dead, it is on those who rule over their graves.
If the government continues to deny what it cannot stop, then Washington’s future engagement may bypass Abuja entirely. For when a state refuses to defend its citizens, international humanitarian law demands that the world step in.
This is not diplomacy as usual. It is the collision of truth with pretense.
And truth, though wounded, does not lose battles, it only waits for the right witness.
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi Apostle and
Nation Builder, Convener, Apostolic Round Table.
Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.
Email:bolajiakinyemi66@gmail.com
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