Protecting Foreign Democracy Appears More Urgent Than Protecting Nigerian Lives, Dignity, and Territorial Integrity. Ex-Minister Lalong Seeks Donald Trump’s Intervention

Abuja, Nigeria – December 8, 2025

In the aftermath of the dramatic events of December 7, 2025, when soldiers led by Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri attempted to overthrow the government of the Republic of Benin, prompting a rapid military intervention by Nigeria, former Nigerian minister Solomon Dalung issued a pointed and highly charged statement.

Dalung, while commending President Bola Tinubu for the swift response in Benin, simultaneously questioned the administration’s failure to display similar urgency in addressing Nigeria’s own deepening security crises.

In a bold turn, he went further by calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to also intervene in Nigeria, highlighting what he described as a collapsing internal security architecture and a government unable to protect its citizens.

In his message, Dalung applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for acting decisively when the coup plotters seized Benin’s national broadcaster, dissolved democratic institutions, and announced the closure of the country’s borders.

According to Dalung, the Nigerian Armed Forces mobilized within minutes: air assets were scrambled, ground units deployed, and coordinated strikes executed with remarkable speed.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, swiftly deployed air assets and ground troops across the border. Within one hour, the Nigerian Air Force reportedly executed coordinated aerial strikes on convoys believed to be transporting coup loyalists. The operation was quick, clinical, and effective.”

To many Dalung, the operation demonstrated Nigeria’s long-standing role as a stabilizing force in West Africa and reaffirmed President Tinubu’s commitment to regional peace and democratic governance.

But Dalung’s message does not stop at praise. Instead, it pivots sharply, posing a set of uncomfortable, nationally resonant questions that has been on the lips of most Nigerians since Sunday.

If Nigeria can mobilize jets and elite troops across an international border in under 24 hours, he asks, why has the same level of urgency not been applied to fight terrorists, bandits, and insurgents who have tormented Nigerian citizens for over a decade?

“Why did Brigadier General Musa Uba remain stranded in the forest for days before being recaptured and executed by ISWAP?

“Why have hundreds of schoolchildren been abducted in Niger State and countless others across the North without a comparable rapid military response?

“Why can Nigerian forces identify and strike coup convoys in Benin, yet fail to dismantle entrenched terrorist enclaves in Sambisa Forest, Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna, and elsewhere?”

Dalung argues that these contradictions expose a troubling truth: Nigeria’s security failures are not simply about inadequate capability, they reflect choices, priorities, and perhaps deliberate political hesitations. The same state that can project force abroad appears hesitant or unwilling to deploy equal strength in tackling Fulani terrorism at home.

This, he warns, risks validating international perceptions that Nigeria is failing to protect its own citizens from mass atrocities.

Under global norms including the doctrine of collective self-defence, persistent failures to safeguard civilians can invite external intervention.

This is where Dalung invokes Donald Trump, suggesting that voices like his, calling for international involvement to protect Nigerians, gain legitimacy when Nigeria’s government demonstrates greater urgency for foreign operations than domestic crises.

While Dalung commended the restoration of constitutional order in Benin Republic, his message was unambiguous: Nigerian lives must matter at least as much as foreign democracy.

He insists that the fighter jets that thundered over Cotonou should also fly over Sambisa; that the boots deployed to save Benin should march for Chibok, Mangu, Kontagora, Kachia, Niger, and every community plagued by violence.

His concluding words read less like a critique and more like a national wake-up call:

“National strength is not measured only abroad; it is proven at home.”

As Nigeria basks in international praise for its role in Benin, Dalung’s intervention forces a deeper, more urgent reflection: If we can defend a neighboring democracy in one hour, why has defending Nigerian dignity taken over a decade, yet the situation only gets worse?