Christmas day wasn’t all Jingle Bells but rather Jingle Bombs for ISIS terrorist and bandits in Northwest Nigeria particularly Sokoto State as we woke up to headline news of precision attacks by the United States military on terrorist targets in selected communities in Sokoto State, Nigeria. This was against the backdrop of events arising from President Donald Trump’s declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern in October 2025, and his threat to “come into the country guns ablazing to flush out the terrorist”.
A series of diplomatic and strategic discussions ensued between Nigeria and the U.S after these pronouncements where a high powered delegation led by Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister Amb. Yusuf Tuggar and National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu visited Washington to engage in critical diplomatic and strategic talks bothering on a joint military counter-terrorist operation with the U.S secretary of Defence Hon. Pete Hegseth and his team. The result of these talks was what was witnessed on the 25th of December 2025. In a tweet made by the U.S President in his usual braggadocious fashion, he stated that under his instruction the U.S had launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum in Northwest Nigeria who had been killing innocent Nigerians, primarily Christian populations. In ending the tweet he wished everyone a Merry Christmas including the dead terrorist.
Following up on this, Pete Hegseth, also made a tweet where he admitted to the U.S being responsible for the precision strikes against the terrorist in Nigeria revealing that there was more to come. He however acknowledged the cooperation and support of the Nigerian government in the operation which was either deliberately or accidentally omitted from Trump’s statement. Subsequently, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement acknowledging the operation and pledging continued cooperation with international partners to eradicate all forms of banditry and terrorism in the country.
Without a doubt, this was cheering news for the majority of well meaning Nigerians including myself who had waited and wondered for how long we would continue to listen to rhetorics without significant action. This is not to undermine the efforts of our military who in recent times have equally been conducting several raids and decimation of terrorist cells and formations across the country, however this singular successful collaboration with U.S forces is indeed a great step forward and a major plus for this administration in the area of security.
This bold initiative to follow the part of constructive diplomacy and strategic collaboration with the U.S, in spite of other areas of contention and disagreement with the Trump’s administration really demonstrates courage, foresight and fortitude on the part of President Tinubu which I believe should be commended. But beyond commendation is sustainability. As it’s typical with these types of military collaborations, there is bound to be different versions of narratives coming from different shades of opinions expecially in a country as deeply divided as Nigeria considering the diverse comments on both social and conventional media since the U.S strikes. These are however a merger price to pay compared to long term benefits of a lasting state of peace and security in the country if this cooperation is sustained and optimally so. This is why the government needs to take advantage of the situation to rejig and reinvigorate the country’s security apparatus towards achieving an accelerated military modernisation and heightened strategic capacity through this collaboration and cooperation.
It is significant to point out that this operation has sent a message to the terrorist that Nigeria is not isolated and indeed their actions can attract global consequences. The government however needs to reinforce this advantage by further strengthening internal security and intelligence capacity to combat other low level retaliatory attacks that decimated terrorist groups might want to resort to in the short run. In the long run however, Nigeria needs to take certain important steps to consolidate on the gains of the military collaboration with the U.S., and these steps include:
– Deliberately shaping the partnership by asserting leadership in all operations. The government must ensure that all operations align with Nigeria’s national security strategy not external political narratives.
– Importantly, the government needs to sustain the correction and proceed to fully control the narrative surrounding the entire operation. The narrow religious coloration propagated by U.S. must be consistently rejected. Terrorism and banditry in Nigeria are basically criminal activities that are borne out of economic and transactional motivations.
– The government also need to institutionalise the cooperation through legal frameworks and establish clear status of forces, cooperation agreements, scope of operations and rules of engagement.
– The government should also explore the possibility of diversifying security partnership to avoid over dependence on the U.S. The government can equally seek possible cooperation with China, EU, U.K and other regional neighbours. This is because strategic balance reduces hegemonic leverage that a singular partner might want to explore.
– As I earlier highlighted, Nigeria should take advantage of the cooperation to seek and pursue a heightened security capacity for the military. This is an opportunity to prioritise intelligence sharing, drone technology transfer, Cyber and Signals intelligence, Counter-terror finance tracking and Special forces training.
– Finally, it is worthy to reiterate that military force alone cannot defeat terrorism. Even the U.S has consistently pointed that out. The necessary government reforms required to provide lasting security in the country must be implemented. State and rural policing in this context cannot be overemphasised. Maintaining community intelligence networks, border surveillance, improving the justice system and integrating the less privileged population particularly in northern Nigeria in the socio-economic system of the country are critical reform areas that must be sufficiently addressed.
True sovereignty is not refusing assistance, it is leveraging and controlling it for the overall benefit of the country. Only this would guarantee long-term stability, unity and lasting security for Nigeria.
Olusegun Hassan, Ph.D
Public Policy Analyst and Social Commentator
