The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the Federal Government for not announcing the airstrikes by the US before President Donald Trump did so.
Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to announce the US had struck in North-West Nigeria, during which several terrorists were killed. The Nigerian government later confirmed the attacks and said they were carried out in collaboration with the US.
But PDP’s spokesman, Ini Ememobong, says the Federal Government ought to have briefed Nigerians before the US authorities did so.
“The Federal Government should have been the first to report the news in order to properly sensitize the Nigerian populace, instead of waiting to confirm news already in public circulation, unless they were taken unawares like the rest of the citizens,” Ememobong said in a statement on Friday.
PDP said the “passive confirmation of the knowledge and cooperation of the Nigerian Government in the operation” leaves it “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 Federal 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,” the main opposition party said.
On Thursday, Trump wrote that, “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.
“May God bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
The Republican president, however, did not publish the details of the attack, weeks after he said Christians in Nigeria faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide”.
The US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said the operation in Sokoto was in “coordination with Nigerian authorities.”
