Political Panorama Issue No 26
Donald Trump called Nigeria a “disgraced country.” But before we rage at his insult, we must confront why it sounds believable. A nation that massacres citizens, pardons criminals, and leaves its embassies empty cannot claim dignity abroad. Read Ola Olateju’s new column on Political Panorama.
Everyone
- from government spokesmen to media houses and bloggers rushed to defend
Nigeria after Donald Trump’s outburst describing the country as a Christian persecuting country and a “now
disgraced country.” Yet, in the flurry of righteous indignation, most
commentators missed the most telling phrase in that statement - “now
disgraced country.”
It
is that simple but loaded adjective, “disgraced,” that betrays Trump’s deeper
motives and enduring disdain. It offers a window into how he and indeed, a
segment of Western populist thinking perceives Nigeria - not just as unstable,
but as morally fallen.
Trump’s
words sting not because they are wholly true, but because they resonate with
uncomfortable fragments of our national reality. And in that sense, his insult
tells us more about us than about him.
A
Pattern of Disdain and the Language of Moral Superiority
Donald
Trump’s contempt for Nigeria is not new. It has evolved in tone and form over
the years from crude mockery to moral condemnation. In 2018, during Muhammadu
Buhari’s White House visit, Trump declared that Nigeria had a “massive
reputation for corruption.” The compliment that followed that Buhari was
“working hard to address it” was a mere diplomatic sugar.
That same year, he joked that Nigerians who visited the U.S. would “never go back to their huts.” The racism in that remark was naked, but it also exposed a deeper attitude - that African nations, no matter their history or complexity, are morally suspect by default.
Fast forward to 2025. The older, even less restrained Trump returned to social media to accuse Nigeria of Christian persecution and called it a “now disgraced country.” Beneath the surface, that phrase encapsulated not just condescension but retribution that presents that Nigeria had fallen short of America’s imagined moral order and therefore deserved to be disciplined.
In
the same week that Donald Trump’s remarks resurfaced, a story began circulating
online alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s planned visit to Washington
had been quietly aborted. The United States, the report claimed, declined to
extend an official welcome, citing Nigeria’s worsening human rights record and democratic
backsliding. Whether or not every detail of that report proves accurate, the
very fact that such a headline could gain traction tells its own story. It
reflects how far Nigeria’s international reputation has sunk, that a tale of
diplomatic rebuff now sounds plausible to so many.
In
diplomacy, perception often precedes reality. The mere rumor of a rebuffed
presidential visit can signal something deeper. The slow corrosion of respect,
the whispering acknowledgment that Africa’s largest democracy no longer
commands deference but provokes discomfort. In this sense, Trump’s rhetorical
contempt and Washington’s alleged cold shoulder belong to the same moral
geography shaped by Nigeria’s self-inflicted crises and the world’s weary
disillusionment.
Even
if the Presidency’s rebuttal holds true, the incident has exposed a truth that
cannot be denied. Nigeria’s external image has become so compromised that
falsehoods about its disgrace sound almost believable. That, perhaps, is the
most damning verdict of all.
Trump’s
invocation of Christian persecution in Nigeria is a familiar maneuver. As
stated in my previous article on the same subject matter in Political Panorama with Ola Olateju issue 25,
it is a half-truth stretched into propaganda. Yes, Christian communities in
northern and central Nigeria have suffered attacks but so have Muslims and
traditionalists. Banditry, terrorism, and political violence are Nigeria’s true
religion. They are all indiscriminate and profit-driven.
Yet
Trump deliberately frames the violence as anti-Christian because it plays well
with his domestic evangelical base in the United States. The “Christian
persecution” narrative has long been weaponized by right-wing populists to
justify interventionist fantasies and moral grandstanding.
In
truth, Trump’s real concern is not faith, rather, it is control. His “moral
outrage” is less about Nigerian Christians and more about Nigeria’s leaders and
by extension, Nigeria’s image. When Trump calls the country “disgraced,” he is
not condemning Boko Haram; he is condemning Abuja.
A
Leadership that Makes Insults Believable
The
tragedy is that Nigeria’s government makes Trump’s insult sound plausible. The
image of a “disgraced country” is sustained not by foreign propaganda, but by
domestic absurdities.
Consider
the Abuja Massacre, when the
Nigerian police opened fire on Shiite Muslims during a peaceful procession.
Citizens were killed in cold blood, yet there was no accountability, no remorse
but only silence and denial. A state that turns its guns on its citizens in
peacetime has already surrendered moral authority.
Then
there is the Clemency Scandal - a
presidential pardon list that included convicted drug barons, kidnappers, armed
robbers, and murderers. The announcement triggered national outrage, forcing an
embarrassed government to withdraw and “review” the list. But the stain
lingered. What kind of government extends mercy to predators while the victims
rot in fear and poverty?
And
as if that were not enough, Nigeria’s foreign
missions are leaderless and in disarray. Key embassies from Washington
to London and Paris have no ambassadors. Mission houses are underfunded,
diplomats unpaid, and Nigeria’s image unattended. Can any nation command
respect when it cannot even maintain representation abroad? While all the
countries are having Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Abuja, President
Bola Tinubu recalled all the ambassadors giving an impression that having such
high level government contacts in other countries is not a big issue without realizing
that such an action is, in a diplomatic parlance is “recalling state”. These are not isolated blunders rather, they are
symptoms of systemic carelessness - the kind that makes Trump’s mockery
resonate across the world.
Trump’s
Personalized Diplomacy and Tinubu’s Shadow
Trump’s
diplomacy has always been personal. He does not attack systems; he attacks
symbols. When he dislikes a leader, he ridicules the nation. Venezuela became a
“disaster.” Haiti became a “s---hole.” Iran was a “terrorist state.” Nigeria
has now joined this gallery of derision.
His
“disgraced country” line must therefore be read as a coded rebuke not of
Nigerians, but of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Since Tinubu’s election, the
global media has been awash with controversy ranging from the U.S. drug-linked
forfeiture cases, the Chicago certificate saga, to allegations of identity
manipulation.
To
Trump, who values showmanship and perceives politics through the lens of
credibility and dominance, such scandals symbolize weakness. Thus, his insult
functions both as a geopolitical jab and a personal verdict - Nigeria, under
its current leadership, has lost moral coherence.
From
“Corruption” to “Disgrace”: The Arc of Contempt
Trump’s
linguistic shift from calling Nigeria “corrupt” in 2018 to calling it
“disgraced” in 2025 is psychologically revealing. Corruption implies
dysfunction and disgrace implies shame. One describes inefficiency, the other
moral collapse.
This
evolution mirrors how Western populists often view African nations as morally
compromised entities unworthy of self-determination. It is also consistent with
Trump’s tendency to moralize power and to divide the world into “strong” and
“weak,” “clean” and “dirty,” “worthy” and “disgraced.”
In
Trump’s mind, Nigeria’s combination of corruption, violence, and scandal
confirms his worldview and justifies his contempt.
A
Nation’s Moral Crisis as Foreign Propaganda
When
a country fails to uphold moral order, its enemies and critics do not need to
invent ammunition; they simply recycle the headlines. Trump’s insult drew from
Nigeria’s visible crises the Shiite massacre, the EndSars killings, the
clemency fiasco, the empty embassies, the corruption cases, and the air of
official indifference.
A
state that cannot hold itself accountable invites moral lectures from those who
barely conceal their prejudices. And that, perhaps, is the true tragedy of
Nigeria today. It was not that Trump insulted us, but that we made it easy for
him to do so.
Donald Trump did in fact describe Nigeria as a “now disgraced
country” in his 2025 statement - a phrase he used while claiming to defend
“persecuted Christians.” That framing, while self-serving, provided him with
moral cover for what was essentially a political jab. Yet, beyond the theatrics
of Trump’s rhetoric lies a sobering reality - Nigeria’s own domestic failures
have made such insults sound credible.
Corruption remains pervasive, human
rights abuses persist without consequence, and the nation’s diplomatic presence
abroad continues to wither through negligence and inertia. These are not hidden
flaws; they are global headlines. The world sees them, discusses them, and
judges us by them.
Thus, when Trump lashes out with
contempt, his cynicism feeds on a truth we refuse to confront - that our own
contradictions supply the moral fuel for his derision. The boundary between
external provocation and internal disgrace has become tragically blurred,
leaving Nigeria both the target and the enabler of its own humiliation.
Reclaiming
Dignity in a Cynical World
Nigeria
cannot demand respect abroad if it does not enforce accountability at home.
It cannot ask the world to believe in its democracy when it massacres
protesters in Abuja.
It cannot project integrity when it pardons criminals and forgets victims.
It cannot inspire confidence when its embassies are empty and its diplomacy
rudderless.
National
dignity is not declared but demonstrated. And until Nigeria confronts its
internal disorder, every Trump, every Western demagogue, will continue to
weaponize our failures as proof of national moral collapse.
Conclusion:
The Disgrace Within the Discourse
Donald
Trump’s “disgraced country” insult may have been born of arrogance, but
Nigeria’s leadership nurtured its credibility. His rhetoric reflects the
world’s growing impatience with Nigeria’s contradictions - a country rich in
talent, yet poor in governance; loud in patriotism, yet quiet in
accountability.
Trump’s
words should offend us but they should also awaken us. The greater disgrace
lies not in being insulted, but in living up to the insult.
Ola Olateju is a political analyst, columnist, and host of Political Panorama, a platform that dissects power, policy, and political behavior across Africa and beyond. His works focus on governance, leadership ethics, and the moral undercurrents of democracy.
Until next week, this is Political Panorama with Ola Olateju watching the horizon,
one controversy at a time
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