The National Orientation Agency has called on President Donald Trump to save Christians being persecuted in Palestine first before considering the launch of a military operation on Nigerian soil. The agency accused the United States of failure of intelligence after President Donald Trump threatened to invade Nigeria over allegations of Christian genocide.

NOA director-general Lanre Issa-Onilu stated this at the monthly National Joint Security press briefing held in Abuja on Monday, challenging Mr Trump to save Christians in war-torn Palestine before coming to Nigeria.

“This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States failed Americans,” Mr Issa-Onilu stated. “It failed in Iraq, it turned out that there was no weapon of mass destruction, and they apologised. The U.S. should start by saving Christians in Palestine first.”

Dismissing the allegations of targeted killing as untrue, the NOA boss added, “It failed them in Libya and many other instances. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering. Beyond that, we all are Nigerians. We know that there are killings in Nigeria and there are killings that should never happen.”

In a tweet on Saturday, Mr Trump vowed a “fast, vicious, and sweet” attack on Nigeria if President Bola Tinubu’s government fails to stop the killing of Christians by a combination of non-state actors, including killer herdsmen, bandits, and terrorists.

Mr Issa-Onilu faulted the invasion threats, accusing some Nigerians of pushing the agenda of Christian genocide for their selfish interests.

“Let me speak specifically to some of the imports of the tweet, one is to say that there is a Christian genocide in Nigeria, which I am sure that even America knows that it’s not true. But it is also understandable that there are some Nigerians actively pushing this agenda,” he stated

He described the recent military shake-up as part of the efforts by the Nigerian government to address the killing, urging Nigerians not to be moved by false narratives.

“And there would not be this monthly security briefing if the government didn’t take this very seriously. A country that is not serious about tackling the situation will never do what the president did by changing top echelons in the military. You ask yourself sometimes between the deep blue sea and the devil, where do you go?“ the NOA boss stated.