By Eric Elezuo
As Nigerians were smacking from the euphoria that followed the eventual negotiated (or otherwise) release of the remaining 130 pupils of the St Mary’s Private Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, exactly one month after their kidnap on November 21, 2025, a supposedly Christmas bonfire was happening at a terrorists’ enclave in Sokoto State. This was occasioned and engineered by the Donald Trump-led American government.
It would be recalled that on November 1, 2025, Trump had in a tweet threatened to invade Nigeria with ‘guns-a-blazing’ in retaliation of an alleged Christian genocide ongoing in the country if the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government continues to do nothing about it.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump posted on social media. “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!,” Trump said.
The threat followed an earlier declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) to which Tinubu pushed back, saying that the characterization of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the national reality.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so.
“Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”
But the explanation, and resultant diplomatic visitations of Nigerian delegation led by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to Washington, did not assuage the Americans. But with congressional hearings and fact-finding visit to Nigeria, the Americans made their own conclusions.
And so, on the night of Christmas, and while President Tinubu was holidaying in Lagos, faraway from the seat of power, the United States carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
A message on X by President Trump however, said the operation was at the request of Nigeria’s government, U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S. military.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The strike was an aftermath of US consistent intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria shortly after the threat in November.
His post went on to say U.S. defence officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes.”
The U.S. military’s Africa Command also said on X that the strikes were conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants in Sokoto state.
It is instrumental to note that in all statements released by either Trump or any US agency, the name of the Nigerian president was never mentioned or given credit to as respectfully deserved, sparking conversations on the role of the Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief in the entire operation, and raising new questions as to what the real agenda of America in Nigeria is.
Again, in his tweet, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked the Nigerian government for its support and co-operation and added: “More to come…Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation.”
Intelligence indicated the camps were being used by foreign ISIS elements working with local affiliates to plan large-scale attacks inside Nigeria. No civilian casualties were reported, although debris fell in two towns in Sokoto and Kwara states.
While Nigerians were expecting Tinubu to address the strike on Nigerian soil by a foreign power, it was a Ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, that signed a statement to the regard informing that the government is aware of the strike, and adding that Nigeria provided intelligence needed for the action.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry said that precision air strikes hit “terrorist targets” in the country’s northwest, adding that it remains engaged with Washington in “structured security cooperation.”
Earlier, while the Nigerian government has refuted US assertion of Christian genocide, it corrected that the terrorists do not discriminate but target both Muslims and Christians, agreeing however, to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups. The resultant effect was the Christmas Day attacks on ISIS facilities and men.
But more worrying is the fact that unlike what is expected, the Nigeria’s president has maintained an undignified silence when “he should be having meetings with his generals”, but rather allowed his aides to run riot with discordant narratives of the situation.
Speaking on behalf of the government, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, noted as follows, in part:
“The precision strike operations were executed between 00:12 hours and 01:30 hours on Friday, 26 December, 2025, following explicit approval by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR,” the statement reads.
“The operation was carried out under established command and control structures, with the full involvement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and under the supervision of the Honourable Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff.
“The strikes were launched from maritime platforms domiciled in the Gulf of Guinea after extensive intelligence gathering, operational planning, and reconnaissance.
“A total of 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms, successfully neutralising the targeted ISIS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria from the Sahel corridor.”
In total contradiction, a presidential spokesperson, Daniel Bwaya, denied intelligence sharing between US and Nigeria, saying he wasn’t sure who thw US strike hit, and asking for time to elapse to decipher what exactly took place. This was even as the Information Minister and Defence headquarters have explained what they know.
The defence headquarters (DHQ) had earlier confirmed that the armed forces of Nigeria, in collaboration with the US, carried out the strike operations.
Samaila Uba, director of defence information, confirmed the joint Nigerian-US operations in a statement.
“The strikes followed credible intelligence and careful operational planning aimed at degrading the operational capabilities of the terrorists while minimising collateral damage,” the defence spokesperson said.
Most Nigerians, including veteran journalists, Dele Momodu, have asked the whereabouts of Tinubu in all that have happened so far.
In a statement he titled, Where’s Our Commander-in-Chief, Momodu insisted that Tinubu should be at the forefront of speaking to the people of Nigeria if actually he is in the know of the US military strikes in the country, noting that leaving the act of war narrations in the hands and voices of his lieutenants, who may know little or nothing does not speak well of a war general, and in war time.
Momodu wrote: “WHERE’S OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF?
“In the middle of last night, while rounding up our CHRISTMAS jollification, we received news from far away USA that PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has ordered some military operations on the soil of our country, with the cooperation of the Nigerian government. The message was foggy and brief.
“In normal climes, we would have expected our own President to immediately abort his vacation and return to the Presidential villa in Abuja, surrounded by his war cabinet, and his media team rolling out updates to a usually under-informed nation…
“We implore our Master Strategist not to abdicate responsibility and our sovereignty at this crucial, and historic moment, but to stand beside America, in this fight against terrorism…
“The country is in our prayers…”
Nigerians are worried as to the reasons the Americans should be the ones to announce the attacks carried out on Nigerian soil even when it is assumed that it was a joint operation involving the Minister of Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Chief of Defence Staff.
According to Segun Sowunmi, a member of the ruling party and Tinubu loyalist, while speaking during a Channels Television programme on Sunday, it doesn’t matter who announced the strikes so long as it happened. He added that the announcement is better with the Americans since it was carried out by them, and they have better knowledge of the specifics.
THE ISREALI ANGLE AND INVOLVEMENT
One of the most dangerous angles of the American airstrikes in Nigeria is the direct or remote involvement of the Israeli government.
It could be recalled, though no one seems to be connecting the dots, that barely 24 hours before the American airstrikes, Jerusalem, a hundred percent allied of Washington has lean heavily on the America’s side in its condemnation of the ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria.
The Isreali Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a Christmas message message, has condemned the alleged genocide, and issued a stern warning to Islamic cells and jihadists perpetrating terrorism across the world, especially in Nigeria, saying it must stop.
“The persecution of Christians or members of any religion cannot and must not be tolerated, and Muslim militant displacement and attacks against Christians in Nigeria, that too must end, and it must end now,” Netanyahu warned.
The Israeli leader, who is hell bent on exterminating Hamas, criticised the global persecution of Christians, citing the Middle Eastern countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.
It is worthy of note that Netanyahu’s statement makes Israel the first and only country to publicly support the United States Presidnet Doanld Trump on his claim of a “Christian persecution” in Nigeria.
So why Netanyahu made the statement, and it was followed by military response remains shrouded in mystery, making analysts wondered the relationship between Netanyahu’s statement and Trump’s immediately military response. Both countries have e collaborated heavily in the fight against Hamas in Palestine and other areas of mutual interest.
Observers and analysts have said that possible involvement of the Israeli government could spell a different narration to the entire conversation, and sponsor in detail to quest to discover Trump and America’s real interest in Nigeria beyond helping the country to battle its multiple armed groups, ‘including at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the less-known Lakurawa group prominent in the northwestern states, where the gangs use large swathes of forests as hideouts’.
And now, Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, on Sunday departed the country for ‘Europe’.
