A Hollow Cry: The AVID Letter to Trump and the Politics of Igbo Irredentism

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 A Hollow Cry: The AVID Letter to Trump and the Politics of Igbo Irredentism


                        By 

        Umar Ardo, Ph.D


The recent letter by the American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) addressed to U.S. President Donald J. Trump is a disheartening display of national hatred and ethnic irredentism masquerading as religious advocacy. Dated November 2, 2025, and signed by Chief Dr. Sylvester Onyia and Dr. Godson Obiagwu, the letter thanks Mr. Trump for designating Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged persecution of and genocide against Christians. Beneath its polite diplomatic tone lies a familiar pattern of behaviour - the Igbo elite’s reflexive ethnic opposition to the Nigerian state, which they do not believe in unless controlled by them.


2. AVID’s claim that there is a genocidal campaign against Christians in Nigeria is not only false but maliciously misleading. If such genocide truly exists, who are the most visible Christians in Nigeria more than the Igbos themselves? The Igbo people are littered across every corner of the Nigeria state, particularly in Northern Nigeria that is Muslim dominated; Christian Igbos are living and trading peacefully among Muslims in Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Jos, Yola, Jalingo and beyond. They own businesses, build churches, raise families and freely practise their faith in every town and village across the region. Yet, despite all of Nigeria’s internal security challenges, there has been no systematic or organised targeting of Igbos or other Christian groups for annihilation all these decades since after the civil war. 


3. So, how then can anyone with a sense of honesty and good conscience claim that there is a systematic genocide against Christians by Muslim fundamentalists in Northern Nigeria? Is the so-called genocide selective - targeting only certain Christians and sparing others? That would be a bizarre form of Christian genocide. Such absurdity exposes the hollowness of the narrative upon which the CPC designation rests and celebrated by AVID. Clearly, it is a contrived and politically motivated distortion designed to win foreign sympathy to invade and undermine the Nigerian state.


4. AVID’s invocation of Nnamdi Kanu, their kinsman, as a “whistleblower” of this alleged genocidal act further exposes the true intent of the letter. Kanu is not a prophet of justice; he is a secessionist agitator whose avid hatred, rhetoric and actions against Nigeria, that he christens a zoo, and against its people, especially the Fulani, whom he calls Janzawids, and Yorubas, whom he labels natural traitors, have seriously deepened national divisions. To therefore glorify him before a foreign power and solicit intervention in Nigeria’s domestic affairs is an act of betrayal to the nation. No patriot asks outsiders to invade or destabilise their homeland under any pretext.


5. Rather than working to promote peace, interfaith understanding and national cohesion, AVID’s letter seeks to internationalize Nigeria’s internal challenges and frame them through the dangerous lens of religious war against Christianity. This is both irresponsible, unpatriotic and dangerous.


6. If the authors of this letter truly cared about Nigerian Christians, they would have directed their efforts toward building bridges between communities and strengthening institutions that protect all citizens, regardless of faith or ethnicity. Instead, they have chosen the easier, more sensational but familiar route of victimhood politics - one that serves their narrow ethnic and political interests at the expense of national unity and stability! 


7. The truth is clear: the narrative of Christian genocide in Nigeria is a hollow cry, and AVID’s letter is a desperate attempt to weaponize religion for political ends. No doubt Nigeria’s problems are many, violence is rampant and people are being killed, but genocide against Christians is not one of them. And those who invite or celebrate foreign powers to interfere in our affairs stand not as defenders of faith, but as enemies of their own people.





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