Ogona Anita
American rap superstar Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, popularly known as Nicki Minaj, has lent her voice to the growing international call to end the violence perpetrated by insurgents and bandits in northern Nigeria.
While delivering a keynote address at a United States Mission to the United Nations conference on “Combating Religious Violence and the Killing of Christians in Nigeria,” the Grammy-winning artist demanded that no group should ever be persecuted because of their faith.
Amid calls for urgent global action to address Nigeria’s deepening insecurity crisis, she clarified that her intention is to unite humanity and not to take sides.
“I want to make it very clear, once again, that this isn’t about taking sides. This is about standing up in the face of injustice. It’s about what I’ve always stood for,” she said.
The rapper thanked “President Trump for prioritizing this issue and for his leadership on the global stage in calling for urgent action to defend Christians in Nigeria, to combat extremism, and to bring a stop to violence against those who simply want to exercise their natural right to freedom of religion or belief.”
Some weeks ago, President Donald Trump had raised concerns over what he described as the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria.
He asked the country’s authorities to address the issue and declared Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC).
Trump later threatened a military action in Nigeria if the killings continued.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now-disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” the US president said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians”.
‘We Respect Faith’
The Nigerian authorities have, however, denied the allegations, saying it respects people of all faiths.
“Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength. Nigeria is a God-fearing country where we respect faith, tolerance, diversity, and inclusion, in concurrence with the rules-based international order,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said in a statement.
