Trump’s Statements on Nigeria Airstrikes Misrepresent a Nuanced Reality
Following the U.S. military’s airstrikes targeting locations in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday, President Trump asserted that the objectives were Islamic State militants who “have been targeting and brutally killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” However, analysts contend that the reality on the ground is significantly more intricate. Sokoto State, which was struck by over 12 Tomahawk missiles Thursday night, is predominantly Muslim, who are the primary victims of terrorist violence there, as reported by conflict monitoring groups. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto recently indicated that the region does “not grapple with persecution” of Christians.
There is a division among analysts regarding potential connections between insurgent factions in Sokoto and the Islamic State. Some experts claim that the violent aggressors in Sokoto, locally referred to as the Lakurawa, may have links to the Islamic State’s Sahel Province, which is primarily located farther north and west in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Conversely, some analysts argue that the evidence supporting these connections remains ambiguous, as the nature of the Lakurawa group is still obscure. This group has been active in Sokoto and other Nigerian states for many years, initially gaining favor by combating local bandits before turning against rural communities. “There’s a lot of fluidity and not a lot of ideological alliances,” said Alkasim Abdulkadir, spokesperson for Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, when discussing the Lakurawa.
Despite the Nigerian government disputing Mr. Trump’s assertions regarding a Christian “genocide,” it has opted to address his threats by collaborating with his administration. Nigeria has utilized the opportunity to mobilize U.S. military support against insurgents troubling rural neighborhoods in the country’s northwest. The Nigerian government clarified on Friday its support for the airstrikes, which followed a phone conversation between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr. Tuggar “regarding bilateral topics and military cooperation,” according to Mr. Abdulkadir. Mr. Tuggar communicated the details to Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who endorsed the strikes, Mr. Abdulkadir noted. He mentioned that Nigeria supplied U.S. forces with intelligence for the strikes. The purpose of these strikes was identified as a means to deter further bandit operations in the region, he stated. “Air power is something that they can’t contend with,” he remarked.
What the strikes accomplished immediately is uncertain, yet reports surfaced on Friday morning indicating that one of the impacted areas was the outskirts of Jabo, a town in Sokoto, which analysts mentioned was not recognized as harboring terror or bandit factions. Shafi’u Aliyu Jabo, a 35-year-old Jabo resident, recounted hearing the strike in the dead of night. “We heard a loud noise similar to that of an aircraft, coming from the western section of the town and moving towards the east,” he said. “Then there was a sound resembling a siren, followed by a powerful air force that nearly shifted the roofs of our homes.” He said that local residents, believing an aircraft had crashed, hurried to a nearby farm, where they discovered remnants of ordnance. A farmer’s shack had caught fire, but fortunately, no one was injured, he stated. He further noted that he was unaware of any terrorist camps nearby.
Nigeria, a deeply religious country, is home to hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians, and Sokoto State is the residence of the Sultan of Sokoto, who is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslim population. Last month, Mr. Trump threatened to either strike Nigeria or deploy troops if the government did not “act quickly” to halt what he described as a “genocide” targeting Christians in the nation. As Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria faces widespread, intricate violence impacting both Muslims and Christians, and its government has refuted Mr. Trump’s description. Nevertheless, it also dispatched a delegation to Washington, D.C., to engage with American officials regarding security collaboration.
Vincent Foucher, a research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, noted that the airstrikes are likely to resonate with certain American Christians and political supporters of Mr. Trump who have amplified the narrative that Nigerian Christians are uniquely persecuted. “It’s an effective way for the U.S., and for Trump, to demonstrate to the American evangelical right that he’s taking action regarding Nigeria,” Mr. Foucher stated. For the United States, he added, the strikes serve to address both “Trump’s desire for media attention and the American security establishment’s concerns pertaining to the Islamic State.” However, some within Nigeria expressed confusion over the decision to target Sokoto State.
Analysts highlight that the terrorist organization in Nigeria with the most well-documented connections to the Islamic State operates in northeastern Nigeria, far removed from Sokoto State. This group, known as Islamic State West Africa Province or ISWAP, separated from Boko Haram, another jihadist faction. “If the bomb had been dropped in Sambisa Forest, nobody would be surprised,” remarked Kabir Adamu, a security analyst, referring to an area in northeastern Nigeria long held by Boko Haram and subsequently ISWAP. “Because everybody kind of knows that’s one of the strongholds of the target group.” Terrorist factions active in the Sahel, a vast region spanning north-central Africa, have been advancing into Nigeria’s northern border regions and to neighboring coastal nations like Benin and Togo, but this is a relatively recent development, analysts affirm. These groups have predominantly operated in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, transforming the Sahel into a global terrorism hotspot that accounted for over half of all terrorism-related fatalities last year, according to the United Nations. Analysts suggest that their movement southward demonstrates a desire to recruit and establish new logistical bases, rather than targeting Christians, as claimed by the Trump administration.
Published: 2025-12-26 17:56:00
source: www.nytimes.com
