By Mafa Kwanisai Mafa

The recent pronouncement by the former US President, threatening military intervention in Nigeria under the pretext of a “Christian genocide,” is not a deviation from established imperial doctrine; it is a blatant declaration of neo-colonial war masked in religious fervour.

From a Pan-Africanist perspective, this move must be understood not as an act of humanitarian concern, but as a calculated manoeuver by the US war machine operating through its Department of Defense (often euphemistically called the Department of War) and its Africa Command (AFRICOM) to secure resource dominance, maintain strategic regional hegemony, and dismantle any nascent African sovereignty that looks Eastward.

The assertion that the US will go in ‘guns-a-blazing’ is a stark reminder that the chains of colonialism have merely been recast as the shackles of neo-colonialism.

The US war machine is escalating its war against Africa, and the oil-producing giant, Nigeria, is its latest target. The US president, on his Truth Social platform, posted that Nigeria has now been designated a country of ‘particular concern’ and if the Tinubu administration does not deal with the genocide against Christians, the US will go in ‘guns-a-blazing’ to crush the Islamic terrorists.

This is essentially a declaration of war against Nigeria, and the US Department of War has been instructed to ‘prepare for possible action’. Not only is it surreal that we are now in an era where governments promote war policy over the internet, but the government in question, which claims to be concerned with a Christian genocide in an African country, has been actively supporting genocide against Palestinians, is mediating sham peace deals in the DRC, and threatening war against Venezuela.

The Scent of Oil and the Folly of ‘Concern’

The primary driver behind this escalating aggression is, as it has always been, material interest. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and a massive oil-producing giant, represents an indispensable prize in the geopolitical contest between declining Western hegemony and the rising multipolar world order. The threat is directly tied to the US desire to guarantee access and control over these critical energy resources, a goal that supersedes any supposed moral concern.

First, it is important to consider the role of neo-colonialism and the complicity of the African bourgeoisie in the crimes of imperialism. In this case, the objective of the US government is to sow division amongst the people, which would facilitate the balkanization of Nigeria and ensure easy extraction of its resources by Western corporations.

Consider the hypocrisy inherent in this strategic move: a government weaponising the narrative of “saving Christians” in Nigeria while simultaneously actively supporting and enabling the ongoing systematic dispossession and violence against Palestinians—a situation that many analysts, including Pan-Africanists, view as a true, ongoing genocide.

Furthermore, the US role in brokering “peace deals” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation ravaged by conflict directly fuelled by Western corporate interests seeking its vast mineral wealth, only highlights this moral bankruptcy. This selective outrage is a classic imperial tactic: weaponise religion or human rights only when it serves to destabilise an adversary or justify intervention that advances corporate-state interests.

The directive to the Department of War to ‘prepare for possible action’ via a social media post is illustrative of how seamlessly the lines between psychological warfare, diplomatic pressure, and kinetic threat have merged in the digital age. It functions as both a psychological operation (PsyOp) to test the resilience of African political consciousness and a direct ultimatum to the Tinubu administration, reminding them of their position as client elites in the neo-colonial structure.

Neo-Colonialism and the Complicity of the African Bourgeoisie

A radical Pan-Africanist analysis necessitates an unflinching examination of the internal vulnerabilities exploited by external forces. One of the sore spots in the structure of Nigeria as an entity is the tension between ethnic groups, more so when the groups take on a religious character.

The northern part of the country has numerous ethnic groups, but the dominant religion is Islam, and similarly, the major religion in the south is Christianity, with just as many ethnic groups. The African bourgeoisie, often educated and positioned by the very systems that enriched the West, during the colonial era, frequently acts as the comprador class—a local intermediary whose primary loyalty remains to the metropolitan centre rather than the collective liberation of the African people.

In Nigeria, the imperial strategy focuses on the balkanization of the state by exacerbating existing ethno-religious fissures. The tension between the predominantly Muslim North and the largely Christian South is the historical fault line most effectively mined by imperial architects. These religions have been a unifying factor for the many tribes that make up the country, and unfortunately, it has also been a lever used by neo-colonists to cause division for political gain, especially during elections.

This dynamic has resulted in periods of widespread violence targeted at different groups, not necessarily because of their ethnic group, but for their religious loyalties. It is important to note that conflating religion and ethnicity is a key tactic of social engineering used by colonial powers. The colonial administrators perfected the tactic of conflating ethnicity with religion to prevent a unified anti-colonial struggle.

They structured political and administrative systems that advantaged one group over another, ensuring that local political competition—especially during elections—was framed around these manufactured divisions rather than a unified struggle against external economic exploitation.

The US threat aims to empower factions within the Nigerian political class that favour continued dependence on the West, while simultaneously creating an environment where a justification for direct military intervention—ostensibly to protect one religious group—can be manufactured. With this context, an African with a discerning mind can easily see the machinations of imperialism at play in Nigeria.

Trump’s proclamation has many objectives. First, it is a psychological operation to survey the acceptance level of internet users on the idea of the US using military force to ‘save Christians,’ and it is diplomatic pressure on a client government to ‘speed things along’ and correctly play their role of neo-colonialist at the service of empire.

This manufactured chaos is precisely what allows Western corporations to negotiate resource extraction deals under duress, bypassing true national sovereignty. The objective isn’t to stop “genocide”; it’s to prevent the consolidation of a truly independent, resource-controlling Nigerian state.

The Mercenary Shadow: Terrorism as Imperial Tool

Furthermore, the “terrorists” Donald Trump complains about—Boko Haram, ISWAP, Al-Qaeda affiliates—are not spontaneous religious outbreaks. The terrorists Donald Trump complains about are mercenaries that sprang up after the imperial wars that destroyed Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

These are the same death squads that roam the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin, destroying lives and displacing thousands, and it is completely cynical for the US president–a war criminal himself–to suggest that the conflict northern Nigerians face and experience is strictly ethnoreligious, let alone one-sided.

From Boko Haram, to ISWAP, and Al-Qaeda, these splinter factions are responsible for destabilising not just Nigeria, but most countries of the Sahel, and the victims are AFRICANS regardless of religious faith. In addition, these extremist insurgent groups are covertly created and backed by Western intelligence agencies.

A Pan-Africanist view holds that these extremist groups are often the unintended, yet predictable, by-products of imperial wars that deliberately shattered state structures across North Africa and the Middle East. When these destabilised elements migrate southward, especially into the porous Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, they become tools for regional disruption.

It is utterly cynical for a former US President—himself a figurehead of a nation responsible for countless illegal invasions and regime changes—to assign a singular, simplistic ethnoreligious label to the conflict. The reality, as seen from Accra to Addis Ababa, is that African lives are the collateral damage in a theatre defined by proxy conflicts.

These groups operate in a murky space, often receiving covert backing or benefiting from the intelligence vacuum created by US-instigated destabilisation, allowing them to secure weapons and territory, which in turn justifies increased Western military presence.

Strategic Displacement and the AES Threat

The AFRICOM commander, in a statement to the US Senate, described Africa as a ‘nexus theatre’, where global interests converge. AFRICOM itself confirms the strategic imperative. The report states that the US cannot afford to shift its gaze from Africa, and it is imperative to create conditions where American economic interests can flourish.

This lines up with the recent activities of the criminal US government because, on one hand, more African countries are choosing to work and cooperate with China and Russia, and on the other hand, their military presence in the region is on the decline.

This convergence is driven by the realisation that African nations are increasingly cooperating with non-Western partners like China and Russia, seeking infrastructure and development capital without the onerous political conditions tied to Western loans and structural adjustment programmes.

The declining US military footprint in certain areas is forcing a more aggressive posture elsewhere. The objectives of the US war machine here are clear. Having lost critical mining concessions to China, the US is savagely going after African resources and eyeing the massive oil deposits in Nigeria.

Secondly, having been chased out of Niger, the US seeks to find another base to maintain a presence in the region. The United States is deeply threatened by the burgeoning Alliance of Sahel States (AES), comprising nations like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger which are actively expelling former colonial powers and seeking genuine sovereignty.

The United States is threatened by the example set by the AES, and through AFRICOM, it seeks a base from which it can launch proxy, covert and overt attacks against countries of the AES.

The Bottom Line: Fragility and Revolutionary Consciousness

The bottom line here is that Nigeria is large and populous but politically fragile. The age-old tactic of divide to conquer is effective, and Nigeria is vulnerable to it, especially when considering surrounding factors like economic hardships, regional insecurity, and a compromised ruling class. The ethnoreligious angle of political trickery is one that many Nigerians are aware of because it has been exploited numerous times in the same manner.

The fundamental takeaway for the Pan-Africanist movement is this: Nigeria’s political fragility, exacerbated by economic hardship and a compromised ruling class, is the Achilles’ heel imperialism seeks to exploit. The ethnoreligious political trickery is an old script, but this time, the stakes for full resource control and geopolitical realignment are higher.

Now, however, revolutionary political consciousness is important because through this mindset, more people may be organised to stand firmly not only against the threat of foreign intervention based on falsehoods, but to resist the menace of local collaborators as well. The imperialists have shown themselves as relentless in the pursuit of domination; Nigerians must not fall for these schemes.

The path forward requires a revolutionary political consciousness that cuts through the manufactured division. Nigerians, and indeed all Africans, must organise not just to resist the imminent threat of foreign intervention based on calculated falsehoods, but more importantly, to unite against the menace of local collaborators who enable this imperial predation. The battle for Nigeria is a battle for the soul of the continent.