Keypoints:
- Nigerian air force now leads operations after US strikes
- Washington to focus on reconnaissance and intelligence sharing
- Abuja confirms continued cooperation despite diplomatic tensions
NIGERIA’S air force has assumed primary responsibility for counterterrorism operations following United States airstrikes carried out on Christmas Day, with Washington now expected to provide intelligence and reconnaissance support rather than direct military action, a senior Nigerian official told AFP.
The shift follows US strikes conducted overnight on December 25 in Sokoto State, north-western Nigeria, which Washington said targeted sites linked to the Islamic State. The Nigerian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the arrangement reflects a new security understanding between Abuja and Washington.
While Nigeria remains open to further US intervention if required, the official stressed that the country’s military will now take the operational lead, supported by American surveillance flights already active over large swathes of Nigerian territory.
A long-running security battle
Africa’s most populous nation has faced a complex security crisis since 2009, when a jihadist insurgency erupted in the north-east. Although that conflict has been largely concentrated around Borno State, armed criminal gangs known locally as ‘bandits’ have entrenched themselves across vast rural areas of the north-west and north-central regions.
The Christmas strikes marked a rare US kinetic intervention inside Nigeria and followed weeks of heightened diplomatic engagement between Abuja and Washington. That engagement was triggered in October when US President Donald Trump accused armed groups in Nigeria of committing ‘persecution’ and ‘genocide’ against Christians – claims firmly rejected by the Nigerian government and by independent analysts.
Diplomacy and discomfort
Days before the strikes, Nigeria’s Minister of Information publicly declared that the dispute had been resolved, pointing to what he described as a ‘strengthened partnership between America and Nigeria’. Analysts had already noted an uptick in US reconnaissance flights over Nigeria in the weeks leading up to Christmas, flights that have continued since the strikes.
According to a report by The New York Times, citing Pentagon officials, the airstrikes were intended as a ‘one-off event’. However, their execution caused political discomfort in Abuja after Trump unilaterally claimed credit for the operation.
In response, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, embarked on a media push, insisting the strikes were conducted as part of a joint effort rather than a unilateral US action. The Nigerian official told AFP that communication from Washington had been patchy, with US counterparts only making direct contact days before the strikes to outline their plans.
Who was targeted?
Nigerian authorities say the strikes targeted Islamic State-linked fighters operating alongside the Lakurawa jihadist group and allied bandit factions in the north-west. Presidential spokesman Daniel Bwala said all three groups were hit, though neither country has disclosed casualty figures.
The operation was not without civilian impact. A hotel manager in Offa, Kwara State, told AFP that three staff members were hospitalised after debris from munitions struck the building, raising renewed concerns about the risks of aerial operations in densely populated areas.
Regional jihadist links debated
Some researchers have identified possible links between elements of Lakurawa – the dominant jihadist group in Sokoto State – and Islamic State’s Sahel Province, active across the border in Niger. Other analysts, however, caution that such connections remain contested and uneven.
For now, Nigeria’s military leadership appears keen to reassert sovereignty over its security campaign, even as it continues to rely on US intelligence capabilities to confront an evolving jihadist and criminal threat.
