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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s administration for how it handled information about the US strike on terrorist targets in Nigeria.
US President Donald Trump had announced that US forces conducted “powerful and deadly” strikes on Thursday against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria.
Hours later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the incident and disclosed that Nigerian authorities remain engaged in “structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America,” to address terrorism and violent extremism.
In a statement on Friday, December 26, the PDP said Nigerians first learnt about the operation through social media posts by US officials before the Nigerian government made any public statement.
“Nigerians were notified of the American strike on terrorists’ assets through the verified social media pages of President Trump and other American officials before the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a vague statement many hours later, offering a passive confirmation of the knowledge and cooperation of the Nigerian government in the operation,” the party said.
“While international cooperation in the fight against high crimes like terrorism is very much appreciated, the People’s Democratic Party is deeply concerned about a communication structure where foreign powers break the news of security operations in our country before our government does.
“This inverted communication approach does not help the Nigerian 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.”
According to PDP, the Nigerian government should have been the first to inform Nigerians in order “to properly sensitise the Nigerian populace,” rather than confirming information already in the public domain, “unless they were taken unawares like the rest of the citizens.”
The opposition party also urged the Nigerian government to ensure that the “defence agreement with the United States of America includes joint operations, which will ultimately result in knowledge sharing and experiential learning to help Nigeria sustainably combat insecurity, rather than full externally led ‘precision attacks’.”
