By Jimitota Onoyume

International rights activist , Alhaji Musa Saidu, has said that Nigeria will only earn the respect of the President of America, Mr Donald Trump , when it truly positions itself as the giant of Africa.

Saidu who is the President International Human rights Commission , ecology and marine – Africa, in a phone chat with Vanguard said the federal government should be seen to be defending the sovereignty of the nation on all fronts , adding that it should also take steps to rally other African countries around Nigeria.

“If we have the whole of Africa around us we would not have suffered the humiliation we have had from President Donald Trump “, he said.

He also wondered why the nation’s military has not been able to overwhelm Boko Haram and other terrorist bodies disrupting the peace in the north.

Continuing , he advised President Bola Tinubu not to be carried away by the flattering remarks of President Trump on his wife in America, warning that the American president’s negative view on political leadership in the country had not changed.

” You mock the leadership in our country yet you praised our president’s wife at an event. It is clear that the American president is playing politics with Nigeria. Our president should be firm , he should not be swept away by the praises president Trump heaped on his wife “, he said.

“I don’t want president Tinubu to be swayed by the flattering remarks of president Trump if he does it will give him a chance to mock our president “, he added.

Saidu said the firm stand of the government of Mali and the Sahel states seemed to be making the American president show them some respect.

“We see the American government’s delegation in mali seeking collaboration. This is because Mali and the sahel states have sustained their sovereignty. “, he added.

Saidu said Nigerians would have been more convinced that the federal government gave approval for the coming of the US small military force to the country if the Nigerian government had taken the duty to announce the presence of the troop in the country. He said the government should not have left the Commander of the U.S. military ‘s Africa Command AFRICOM, General Dagvin R.M. Anderson, to do it.

The rights activist further enjoined the Minister of Defense, General Christopher Gwabin Musa rtd to do more to ensure security of lives and properties in the north and other target areas of bandits and terrorists in the country.