FEAR gripped campuses across Nigeria as several tertiary institutions abruptly directed students to vacate hostels and return home, switching to online lectures barely a week into the new academic session—all in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating threats of military action over alleged persecution of Christians.
A senior lecturer at the Federal University Lafia (FULafia) in Nasarawa State, speaking anonymously to our correspondent, confirmed that the university issued a circular mandating the shift just seven days after students resumed.
“We were told to go home immediately. Lecturers and students alike have been instructed to leave campus as all classes will now hold virtually,” the lecturer said.
“The decision came directly in reaction to Trump’s warnings—it’s unprecedented. Everyone is scared of what might happen if the U.S. actually strikes.”
Sources from at least three other federal universities in the North-Central and North-West regions reported similar directives, with administrators citing “heightened security risks” stemming from the international crisis.
Students described chaotic scenes as thousands packed bags and boarded buses home, many expressing confusion and anxiety.
“I just resumed two weeks ago after ASUU strikes delayed everything,” said a 300-level student at a affected institution. “Now they’re telling us to leave because of Trump? This country’s problems are now inviting war?”
The moves come amid widespread alarm following President Trump’s November 1 posts on Truth Social, where he accused Nigeria of allowing “the killing of Christians” and ordered the Department of Defense (recently renamed Department of War) to prepare contingency plans for “fast, vicious, and sweet” strikes.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA… may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’” Trump wrote, also threatening to halt all U.S. aid.
President Bola Tinubu has vehemently rejected the claims, insisting Nigeria remains a secular democracy with constitutional protections for all faiths.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” Tinubu stated, vowing intensified diplomatic engagement and domestic anti-terror efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
U.S. defense officials confirmed contingency planning is underway, including options for airstrikes and special forces raids targeting insurgent groups like Boko Haram and Fulani militants—though analysts warn any intervention would face massive logistical and diplomatic hurdles.
As diplomatic channels buzz with urgent talks, many campuses now stand eerily empty—silent testimonials to how a distant superpower’s words have paralysed Africa’s most populous nation.
With no official timeline for physical resumption, virtual classes begin this week amid spotty internet and power challenges that have long plagued Nigeria’s e-learning efforts.
For students already burdened by economic hardship and insecurity, Trump’s threat has turned resumption joy into evacuation panic: another brutal reminder that in Nigeria, even the classroom is no longer safe.