Boss Mustapha Asks Nigeria To Explore Diplomatic Options Over Trump’s Threat

A former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has called on the federal government to explore diplomatic options in addressing issues related to the decision by President Donald Trump of the United States of America (USA) to declare Nigeria a “country of particular concern”.
Mustapha recalled how the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which he served, dealt with a similar situation.

He spoke in Abuja yesterday, where he announced plans for the 45th Anniversary Reunion Gala and Lecture of the Nigerian Law School (NLS) Class of 1980, scheduled to take place between November 27 and November 30, 2025, in Abuja.

The former SGF said the event, being held under the theme, “The Nigerian Legal Profession at Crossroads,” will feature keynote lecture, with the topic “Reassessing the Nigerian Legal Profession in the 21st Century – A Cry for Urgent Reforms”.

It will be delivered by Prof. Andrew Chukwuemerie (SAN), with Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) and Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi (SAN) as discussants.

Mustapha expressed concern about the growing insecurity in the country and the increasing intolerance among Nigerians, calling for a conscious decision by the people themselves to recreate the old days when Nigerians lived together peacefully.

The ex-SGF, who noted that no country on earth is currently free from crisis, said it was incumbent on every nation to evolve its ways of addressing its challenges, adding: “We must evolve our indigenous ways of solving our crises.”

Mustapha said, “Well, because of the experience I have, this is not the first time we have been declared a ‘country of particular concern’.

In 2000 and 2020, the same Trump put us there, but without the drama that this one followed. There was no tweet. It was just at the level of a policy decision.

“And, I remember then, we engaged, we dispatched a team to Washington, made up of technocrats. We applied soft diplomacy in terms of reaching out to friends within the global diplomatic community. And we leveraged the advantage of the stature of President Buhari to talk.

“A lot of things happen in the diplomatic clime behind the doors. It is not for media consumption. And, eventually, we got Biden in 2021 to delist us. I expect that that is what is ongoing now. And, I believe that there should be less of noise and more of engagement.

“President Buhari will always remind me that America has a big stick and if they hit your head with it, the headache will never disappear. In his lighter moods, he would always remind me that caution in dealing with superpowers is important,’ Mustapha said.

“Constant engagement, political back-end engagements, and leveraging friendship globally is equally important in the resolution of the issues now. We will resolve it. Nigeria is a great country. We have 230 million people,” he said.

The ex-SGF said it was not in the interest of anyone for the country to disintegrate, given its consequences for the African continent.

Mustapha said: “If anything happens to this country, if we explode and just walk across West Africa, we’ll eat up all the food. And there will be starvation. People will die of starvation by our share number.

“So, even globally, the world is not interested in the breakup of Nigeria. I can tell you that. Because they know the enormity of the problems that will overflow Africa.

“Not West Africa, Africa. Right now, our people have travelled different areas and different countries. Even the migration issue that is associated with that has become a matter of concern for those nations.

“Talk less of 230 million people scattered all over the place. So, I believe with engagement, with diplomatic backdoor shuttles, with empirical explanations, statistics, we will overcome these challenges,” he said.