The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted the Federal Government for failing to inform Nigerians about the United States’ airstrikes in the country before President Donald Trump publicly announced the operation.
Trump had taken to Truth Social on Thursday to disclose that US forces carried out strikes in North-West Nigeria, killing several terrorists. The Nigerian government later acknowledged the operation, stating that it was conducted in collaboration with the United States.
Reacting, PDP spokesperson Ini Ememobong said the Federal Government should have taken the lead in briefing Nigerians, rather than allowing US authorities to break the news.
“The Federal Government should have been the first to report the news in order to properly sensitize the Nigerian populace, instead of waiting to confirm news already in public circulation, unless they were taken unawares like the rest of the citizens,” Ememobong said in a statement on Friday.
The party expressed concern that the government’s confirmation only came after the information had already gone public, describing it as a worrying communication lapse.
According to the PDP, the “passive confirmation of the knowledge and cooperation of the Nigerian Government in the operation” is troubling, as it suggests a system in which foreign governments announce security operations in Nigeria before Nigerian authorities do.
“This inverted communication approach does not help the Federal Government or Nigerians in any way, especially when taken against the background that the US military has been reported to have previously entered and operated in Nigeria successfully without the permission and knowledge of the government,” the opposition party stated.
In his post on Thursday, Trump wrote that, “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.
“May God bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
The US president did not provide specific details of the strikes, which came weeks after his claim that Christians in Nigeria were facing an “existential threat” amounting to “genocide.”
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said the operation carried out in Sokoto was done in “coordination with Nigerian authorities.”
Following the development, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, confirmed that the airstrikes were approved by Nigerian authorities and that intelligence was provided to the United States.
“Now that the US is cooperating, we would do it jointly, and we would ensure, just as the President emphasised yesterday before he gave the go-ahead, that it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other,” Tuggar said on Sunrise Daily.
“It was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the US strike in Nigeria. I spoke with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for 19 minutes before the strike, and we agreed to talk to President Tinubu for his go-ahead, and he gave it,” he added.