Dambazau spoke on Tuesday at the seventh annual public
lecture of the ‘Just Friends Club of Nigeria’ in Abuja while addressing
Nigeria’s security challenges.

The former army chief, who was guest speaker at the event,
cited external meddling and foreign interests as one of the challenges to
Nigeria’s internal security architecture.

On November 1, US President Donald Trump threatened that the
US could enter Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” to protect the Christian population
from Islamic terrorists.

Trump’s warning elicited a mix reaction from citizens, with
some expressing concern over the proposed military intervention.

“The recent talks of Christian genocide in Nigeria speaks
volumes of external interest. I will leave it at that,” Danbazau said.

“But I want to say that America doesn’t protect anybody’s
interests. I lived in America and I know. I studied masters in political
science and I mixed very well with some of them.

“America doesn’t protect anybody’s interests — they protect
theirs, and we must understand that.”

According to the US state department, protecting core
national interest is the guiding mission of American foreign policy.

Before any programme is funded, it must be justified with
the answer to three questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America
stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?