The Mayor of Blanco, Texas, Mike Arnold, has accused former United States President Barack Obama of worsening insecurity in Nigeria through what he described as failed foreign policies during the Arab Spring.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Monday, Arnold claimed that Obama’s 2011 intervention in Libya contributed to instability across Africa’s Sahel region and strengthened Boko Haram’s spread in Nigeria.
“It was not just Libya, but Obama’s Arab Spring foreign policy,” Arnold said. “I believe he endeavoured to facilitate a takeover here in Nigeria. We have proof that Obama was behind the advance of Boko Haram—intentionally so. Obama holds a lot of the blame.”
Arnold, who is on a fact-finding visit to Nigeria, said his trip was aimed at assessing claims by US Senator Ted Cruz that the Nigerian government is enabling a “Christian genocide.”
“Since 2019, this is my sixth time in Nigeria, and it’s been entirely focused on understanding and telling the story of the internally displaced,” he said. “We’re producing a documentary to capture their experiences. There are between four and ten million Nigerians who were peaceful, productive people, now ground down and given no chance to get back.”
He noted that the growing population of displaced children in camps across Nigeria was a major concern.
“I see children—multitudes of them—growing up believing that power comes from violence and that being peaceful is death. That’s a curse on this nation if there’s no intervention,” he warned.
Arnold said he and his team have been building schools in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Abuja to give children access to education.
“Our schools show that when displaced children get an education, they want to rebuild, not fight. That’s how this is ultimately fixed,” he said. “When the internally displaced are recognised and restored, it will be the foundation of a great nation. Until then, I fear for this nation.”
The American mayor said part of his mission is to gather evidence to help correct what he described as a false narrative about Nigeria’s crisis being mainly a religious conflict.
“I’m meeting with a number of leaders and asking tough questions,” he said. “I’ve been to Jos, Bokos, Gwoza, and all over the south and central parts of the country. We already have two schools up and running in IDP camps and a third under construction, teaching 550 students full-time.”
Arnold also criticised Nigeria’s dependence on foreign aid to address internal crises.
“I don’t understand why a nation as mineral-rich and growing as Nigeria has to go and beg Uncle Sam for help serving its own people,” he said. “Nigerians have plenty of resources to help these people get stability and a life. Their homes are bulldozed, they’re called vagrants—it’s a horrific life.”
The visit was organised by Nigerian author and political commentator Reno Omokri. The delegation also includes American filmmaker Jeff Gibbs, who said their work aims to show that victims of terrorism in Nigeria are both Christians and Muslims.
“In one camp we have predominantly Christian students; in another, mostly Muslim students,” Gibbs said. “What unites them is hope. I would like to see these camps eradicated — not by neglect but by restoring their people to dignity.”
