Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has criticised Kabiru Turaki, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

On Tuesday, Turaki, who leads a faction of the PDP, called on US President Donald Trump to intervene in the party’s internal crisis.

Addressing journalists after gaining entry into the PDP headquarters in Abuja following a long-running clash between rival supporters, Turaki appealed for international assistance.

He urged Trump and the global community to prevent what he described as a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.

“I want to call on President Trump; what is at stake is not just genocide against Nigerian Christians,” Turaki had said.

“He should come and save democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is under threat. I’m calling on all other developed nations: come and save Nigeria, come and save democracy.”

Onanuga responded that Turaki’s remarks amounted to a grievous act.

“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,” the president’s aide wrote.

Two weeks earlier, Trump had warned of potential military action in Nigeria if the government “continues to allow the killing of Christians”.

The US president had vowed to enter Nigeria “guns-a-blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”.

Tensions escalated at the PDP headquarters on Tuesday as police deployed teargas to disperse clashes between opposing party supporters.

The faction aligned with Nyesom Wike and the newly elected national working committee (NWC) led by Turaki had scheduled separate meetings at Wadata Plaza on the same day.

Turaki accused Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), of mobilising thugs carrying cudgels who gathered at the gate while chanting protest songs.

He also alleged that police officers shielded individuals responsible for the disturbances.

Samuel Anyanwu, national secretary of the Wike faction, arrived with his group for their planned board of trustees (BoT) and national executive committee (NEC) meetings.

Police struggled to maintain order as the crowd grew increasingly agitated before ordering all groups to vacate the premises.

Officers later fired teargas outside the building as supporters from both camps exchanged blows.

A heated confrontation played out on Piers Morgan’s show as Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, sparred with Goldie Ghamari, a former Canadian member of parliament, over allegations of Christian persecution in Nigeria.

Tuggar appeared on the Tuesday broadcast to contest the claims, clarify statistics, offer context and address Nigeria’s wider security challenges.

During the opening 16 minutes, Morgan cited figures from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which alleged that more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009 and 18,000 churches destroyed.

Tuggar rejected the numbers as misleading and argued that the religious framing was inaccurate, insisting that the Nigerian government does not record deaths by faith and considers all victims as Nigerians.

When Morgan pressed for official figures, the minister responded that only 177 Christians were killed and 102 churches attacked in the past five years.

Tensions heightened when Morgan brought Ghamari into the conversation as a second guest.

The former Canadian parliamentarian alleged that Nigeria’s insecurity amounted to a jihad, drawing parallels with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

She also referenced the shared Islamic faith of President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima as “evidence” of an Islamist-leaning administration.

“By the way, this is a government that is working closely behind the scenes with the Islamic Republic of Iran. You should ask the foreign minister why Nigerian school children are holding pictures of the Ayatollah who is a brutal dictator and is murdering my people in Iran,” she said.

“People need to look into the linkages between the current Nigerian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“I was a politician for seven years, Piers, and I can tell when someone is lying and avoiding the truth. That’s exactly what this foreign minister is doing and shame on him for lying.”

Tuggar dismissed Ghamari’s remarks as ignorance and described her comments as rambling.

He accused her of making inflammatory statements from a distance and treating Nigerian lives lightly.

Responding to Morgan’s question on Tinubu and Shettima’s faith, the minister said Nigerians place greater emphasis on regional balance, noting that Tinubu is from the south while Shettima comes from the north.

He affirmed he condemns attacks on Christians carried out by Islamist militants.

“I lost my father-in-law to an attack by an Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, so I myself I’m a victim. I’ve lost family members to attacks and they were Muslims,” he said.

“But it doesn’t matter whether they’re Muslim or Christian because their aim is to kill, to maim, so that they would achieve their objectives. And the number one enemy of Boko Haram is not a Christian. It is a Muslim who does not subscribe to their own brand of Islam.”

Morgan then turned to Ghamari for her reaction. She insisted that the killing of Muslims does not “negate the fact that there is a targeted ethnic cleansing of Christians in Nigeria”.

In a fiery rebuttal, Tuggar accused her of fuelling conflicts from afar without understanding local realities.

He said, “This lady would not know the difference between a Fulani man, a Tiv man, an Igbo man if they stood in front of her.

“But you can see clearly overnight because it pays. She’s probably making money out of it. She is out there trying to start a war.

“They want to break up Nigeria the same way they broke up Sudan and now they’ve run away. She’s not talking about Sudan anymore. She’s not talking about South Sudan. I bet she was one of those that was agitating for Sudan to be dismembered.

“This is what they do. This is what they try to do to Africa. Nigeria is the largest country on the African continent. It is the largest shock absorber to the African continent in terms of admitting migrants, in terms of freedom of religion. It’s Africa’s largest democracy.

“But people like you who don’t really care about freedoms, about the freedoms of either Christians or Muslims or Africans will continue to agitate for the break up of Nigeria for war the same way that it’s happening in South Sudan and you’ve kept mum because you’ve moved on.

“You don’t care about the loss of lives. For you, it’s just another black country to be broken up. You don’t care who dies.

“It’s not going to happen to Nigeria. Move on to your next project. You’re a disgrace. You’re a disgrace to the Canadian nation. I’m shocked that you say that you actually practice as a politician in Canada. Move on to the next episode. Leave us alone.”

The interview ended shortly afterwards.

Bandits reportedly attacked a branch of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) at Oke Isegun in the Eruku community on Tuesday evening, killing three people and abducting several worshippers during a service. The incident occurred in Ekiti LGA of Kwara State, a border area close to Kogi State.

A video of the attack, captured during a live stream and reviewed by TheCable, showed worshippers in the middle of a service when gunshots erupted from around the premises. The congregation, led by a young pastor, was seen attempting to flee as the gunfire grew louder before armed men entered the church building. The attack was said to have taken place at about 6pm.

More than five armed bandits reportedly stormed the church, ransacked the building, and took away personal belongings belonging to the worshippers during the raid.

According to a report published by the PUNCH, the attackers shot and killed three worshippers before abducting the pastor and an unspecified number of church members. The newspaper quoted a witness as saying the gunmen invaded the church while the service was ongoing, opened fire on the congregants, and later marched some of them into the bush.

The report also cited comments from a community leader, Benjamin Ayeoribe, who said Eruku had experienced repeated bandit attacks over the past three weeks. He noted that several distress calls to authorities had not resulted in meaningful intervention, adding that residents had been living in persistent fear.

Meanwhile, the Kwara State Police Command said three persons, including a vigilante member, sustained injuries during the attack. The command did not confirm the number of people killed or abducted.

In a statement issued by Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, the police spokesperson in the state, security operatives and vigilantes responded to what she described as “an attempted bandit attack in Eruku”. She explained that the bandits fled into the bush following the intervention of the police and local security volunteers.

Ejire-Adeyemi said “one male victim Mr Aderemi was discovered fatally shot inside the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Isegun; while one Mr Tunde Asaba Ajayi another victim of fatal gunshot was found in the bush, a vigilante, Segun Alaja sustained gunshot injuries and was immediately rushed to ECWA Hospital, Eruku, for medical treatment”.

She also quoted Adekimi Ojo, the commissioner of police in Kwara, as commending the “siwift response of the police and vigilantes”, adding that “he also assures the public that security agencies will not relent until these hoodlums are totally decimated.”

The incident occurred less than 48 hours after bandits attacked Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State and abducted 25 schoolgirls.