The Nigerian government has said President Bola Tinubu authorised the United States to carry out strikes against terrorists operating in the country’s North-West region.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed this on Friday, hours after the US Department of War and President Donald Trump announced that American forces had launched attacks on terrorist targets in Nigeria.
“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 during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“We are a multi-religious country, and we are working with partners like the US to fight terrorism and safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians,” he added.
Responding to concerns that the strikes could amount to a breach of Nigeria’s territorial integrity, the minister insisted that the Federal Government would not engage in any action that undermines the country’s sovereignty.
“It is a collaboration, it is what we have been calling for,” Tuggar said on the programme.
He explained that Nigeria played a central role in the operation, including providing intelligence to the United States.
“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,” the minister said.
“After the approval, I spoke again with Marco Rabio 5 minutes before the strike was launched against the terrorists.”
On Thursday, the US Department of Defense confirmed that “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed in the strikes, which it said were carried out at the request of the Nigerian government.
President Trump also announced the operation, stating: “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,” he wrote on Truth Social.
While details of the strikes were not fully disclosed, the US Department of War later released a short video clip showing an airstrike in Nigeria.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed that the operation in Sokoto State was carried out “in coordination with Nigerian authorities.”
“The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation,” Hegseth wrote on X.
The strikes come weeks after Trump claimed that Christians in Nigeria face an “existential threat” amounting to “genocide,” a position that led to Nigeria being placed back on the US list of “Countries of Particular Concern.” He also threatened military action and later imposed visa restrictions on Nigerians.
However, Nigerian authorities have rejected the framing of the country’s insecurity as religious persecution, maintaining that victims of violence cut across different faiths.