Heroin trafficking ring:How Tinubu hired lobbyist to block release of documents after $460,000 forteiture- Ex-US Mayor, Mike Arnold

Mike Arnold, a former Mayor of Blanco, Texas, is an outspoken activist committed to humanitarian aid and advocacy against the alleged Christian killings in Nigeria.

In this exclusive interview with ADEYEMI LAHANMI, he addresses the killings, the complicity of some of Nigeria’s leaders, and his involvement with Nigeria’s recently appointed ambassador to Mexico, Reno Omokri.

What is your view on the insecurity in Nigeria and her designation as a Country of Particular Concern?

The main driving factor, first, is Islam. I can’t put it any simpler than that. Let me preface this by distinguishing between Muslims and Islam. There are honourable, peaceful, respectable Muslims, who I admire.

There are those who would rather die than be radicalized, and they deserve a monument. The fact remains: if you take the teachings and apply them, this is what you get. This is the example of Muhammad, the way he did things.

This is supported by the Quran, the Hadith, and the scholars and Imams. It is contested by others but that is the central ideology being applied. In addition to radical Islam, you have the looting of the blood minerals.

The Nigerian Federal Government itself admits that at least, $9billion a year is looted, mostly from the Middle Belt and the North. I’ve seen where the terror map closely overlaps with the mineral map.

That is not what is causing people to pick up AK-47s and kill their neighbours, but it is a large part funding it — and funding the corruption and complicity that allow it to continue. There are also cynical politicians using it (the violence) for political realignment.

As the displaced are driven out, terrorists are placed on their land, given multiple wives, and encouraged to repopulate. So you have political realignment, and you have looted minerals driving it. There are other enabling factors, but those are the big ones.Are there names that can be attached to these?

I have personally called for an international investigation of the Sultan of Sokoto, based on circumstantial evidence that I think demands an investigation. I’m not indicting him, but he certainly has the power to issue fatwas against the killing — and for twenty years he hasn’t done that.

The minerals being looted are largely in his domain. Why hasn’t he spoken to that? Those are questions that demand investigation. I have also called for an indictment of President Bola Tinubu’ administration for genocide. He intentionally denies recognition and aid to the displaced. Under international law, that legally qualifies as genocide.I believe it is provable that President Tinubu’s administration is guilty of the international charge of genocide for the denial of recognition and aid to millions of displaced Nigerians. Miyetti Allah is also documented in the United States Congress as a candidate for designation as a foreign terrorist organisation.

So, you can put two and two together. It’s not just a handful of people. It’s an ideology. It’s an acceptance that it’s acceptable to kill people for thought or for politics. That cuts across quite a few institutional powers.

You said something about looting of minerals by foreign powers. Which country in particular are you talking about?

China is documented. If you look at the reports, it’s hard to pin down, but as many as 100,000 or more Chinese nationals are operating in Nigeria.

When you talk to people in the Middle Belt, who have dealt with them, they say it’s chilling how predatory and soulless they operate. So yes, globally and in Nigeria, China is a leading predatory extractor of illegal minerals around the world.

It has been said that what is happening in Nigeria is not a Christian genocide — that it is killings of Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians, and people of other faiths. But you have termed it a Christian genocide. I have used that terminology, but I always qualify it.I’ve been very clear about this: it’s an Islamic conquest, and that includes a great deal of killing. If you look at the definition of genocide, it doesn’t require that the killing be exclusive to one group.

There is an intentional effort to wipe out Christians. That is genocide. There is more going on than that, but one facet of it is a Christian genocide. If you look at even my original report from October, it said Christians and others — including peaceful Muslims who refuse to join. This is documented across numerous instances.

I’ll mention one in particular. They pulled over a bus at a roadblock and ordered everyone out. They separated men from women, Christians from Muslims. The first thing they did was kill the Christian men. That is targeted, and that’s intentional.

That is genocide. Then they went to the Muslims and said, ‘join us or die,’ and the ones who said no, they killed. I believe a monument should be built for those people. Then, they sold the women into sex slavery. So, yes, by definition, that is Christian genocide.

In historical context, we talk about the Holocaust as a Jewish genocide, but there were many other groups caught up in it. There was a Gypsy genocide as well. So calling this a Christian genocide is not to dismiss the others.

It is a facet of it — and to be honest, it is the facet that has gotten the world’s attention. That can’t be a bad thing. The world needs to pay attention. But I have always been clear: this is not Muslim versus Christian. This is Islam versus anybody standing in its way. That includes Christian genocide.

Was the bombing of Sokoto by America strategic?

That’s a good question. I don’t have inside intelligence into President Trump’s brain. I can only speculate. But of all of Nigeria, his stated intention was to stop the Christian genocide.

That is not happening in Sokoto State. From that perspective, Sokoto is already conquered land. He could have picked a camp in Borno State or in Plateau or any of the other locations. I’m sure they know where they are.

But he chose the Sultan’s backyard for a reason. Everything Trump does, that I’ve ever seen, is strategic and largely symbolic. What other symbolism, what other strategy is there in dropping those bombs in his back yard, other than saying, ‘we know where you are’? I’m not saying that’s gospel. It’s my read.

In a way, that raised the hopes of people that there would be a stoppage to the killings. But the killings have continued. There were reports of 200 American soldiers posted to Nigeria. Where are they, and what impact are they having? Are they still in Nigeria?

I don’t have insider intel on that. My understanding is that they’re conducting drone flights. I would suspect at least, part of that is intelligence-gathering and mapping the potential future battleground.

I don’t anticipate any scenario where major U.S. ground forces go in. But where do you bomb? Where do you strike? You saw how surgical the strike on Sokoto was. Nobody, even on the other side, claimed any collateral damage. They’re very good. A good chunk of that work is the intelligence necessary should the future hold more aggressive strikes.

You have said that President Tinubu paid a fine in U.S. courts. How much, and why are security agencies there unwilling to release the details? People are very interested in this. I can read, and I can think. $460,000 was forfeited to a federal court in Chicago, related to a heroin trafficking ring. That’s documented and known.

There is a pending release of those documents. It has been ordered by a federal judge. Tinubu hired a lobbyist to fight against that release, and the FBI and the CIA both filed briefs with the court asking that the documents not be released. The briefs don’t say exactly why, but the language used is the same language those agencies would use to protect a source or an active asset.

The speculation is based on history and evidence. Nigerians don’t quite understand the American system and how variable it is. There is not much continuity between the foreign policy of Barack Obama and that of Donald Trump.

They are very, very different. Obama, of course, was instrumental in getting Muhammadu Buhari elected, and Joe Biden tried to cover that up. I would suspect that Obama-era agencies worked with Tinubu as an asset. I wouldn’t be surprised. Interestingly, in the 1980s, there were four notable people in South Chicago at the same time: Obama, David Axelrod, Bola Tinubu, and the man who is now Pope.

That’s beyond my ability to investigate, but I think it is very interesting. What are the odds? And then their paths cross, all these years later, with this disaster taking place. The CIA, in the dark history of the United States, has worked with drug lords and propped them up.

Is that what’s happening here? Your guess is as good as mine. I’d like to see those documents. The questions are worth asking, and it’s not easy to dismiss the possibility that something is being covered up.

You said Obama supported Buhari in 2015. Was there a strategic reason, based on what you’ve described about the CIA?

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