The Director-General of the Michael Imodu Institute for Labour and Employment Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State, Isa Aremu, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deployed diplomacy to prevent what he described as a potential confrontation with United States President Donald Trump over alleged genocide claims in parts of Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that Aremu made the remarks on Wednesday during his opening address at the institute’s fifth Ramadan lecture series titled, “The Role of Muslims in Supporting the Bereaved,” organised by its Muslim community.
According to him, rather than trade words or respond with insults, Tinubu adopted a strategic and quiet diplomatic approach.
“President Bola Tinubu used diplomacy to stop Trump from attacking Nigeria over imaginary and unexisting genocide,” Aremu said.
“If President Tinubu had not deployed diplomacy in that case, perhaps we would have been going after one another; we would by now be killing ourselves.”
He added that the President chose not to escalate tensions publicly but instead worked behind the scenes to address the situation.
Rather than “throw banters or call President Trump derogatory names,” Aremu said Tinubu “kept quiet and work underneath to dissuade him.”
Aremu further noted that relations between both leaders appeared cordial afterwards.
“Come to think of it, the same Trump, three weeks after, commended the first lady Oluremi Tinubu for efforts at people’s welfare,” he stated.
While acknowledging ongoing insecurity challenges in parts of the country, the labour leader urged Nigerians to remain hopeful and embrace peaceful engagement as a conflict-resolution strategy.
Calling for diplomacy in resolving tensions between Iran and the United States, he said dialogue remains preferable to armed conflict.
“It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war because of bereaved families,” he said, stressing that the world needs peace and that institutions must promote peaceful coexistence.
In his lecture, the guest speaker, Professor AbdulRazaq AbduMajeed Alaro, outlined societal expectations of families who have lost loved ones.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adviser on non-interest banking cautioned against borrowing funds to conduct funeral rites. He also stated that bereaved families are obligated to settle any debts left by the deceased before distributing inheritance.
