Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, has blasted Kabiru Turaki, the new factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for calling on US President Donald Trump to intervene in Nigeria’s political crisis.
Turaki made the appeal on Tuesday after finally gaining access to the PDP national headquarters in Abuja, following a tense standoff between rival factions. Addressing journalists, he claimed Nigeria’s democracy was in danger and urged Trump and the international community to “come and save” the country.
He went as far as suggesting that Nigerian Christians were facing “genocide”, insisting foreign intervention was the only way to prevent the collapse of democratic governance.
Onanuga did not hold back, describing the plea as an act of “high treason”.
“We shall never forget this video: the day a Nigerian politician committed high treason for calling for a foreign invasion of Nigeria, all because of an intra-party dispute,” he wrote.
His reaction comes just two weeks after Trump threatened military action against Nigeria over alleged attacks on Christians, vowing to storm the country “guns-a-blazing” to “wipe out Islamic terrorists”.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted at the PDP headquarters as supporters from the Nyesom Wike-aligned faction and Turaki’s newly elected national working committee (NWC) clashed. Both groups had scheduled meetings at Wadata Plaza, prompting a fierce confrontation at the gate.
Turaki accused Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, of deploying thugs wielding cudgels. He also alleged that police officers shielded those causing the disturbance.
The situation escalated as Samuel Anyanwu, secretary of the Wike faction, arrived with his camp for their own BoT and NEC meetings. Police struggled to restore order, eventually forcing everyone out before firing teargas as both sides exchanged blows outside the building.
