Nigeria averts unilateral US action by cooperating on airstrike

By Ben Ezeamalu, Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis

LAGOS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - By publicly cooperating with the United States on a Christmas Day airstrike, Nigeria's government may have averted humiliating unilateral military action threatened a month ago by President Donald Trump. 

But security experts say it is unclear whether such strikes can do much to hinder Islamist militants who have long menaced communities in the area.

Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday that U.S. forces had launched a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria's government. He said the group had been targeting Christians in the region.

Local media reported loud explosions in the village of Jabo on the evening of Christmas Day. Reuters has not been able to confirm whether there were casualties.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the strike was carried out by about a dozen Tomahawk missiles launched from a U.S. Navy warship.

Abuja confirmed it had approved the operation. Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said on Friday that Nigeria had acted jointly with the U.S., but that no specific religion had been targeted.

"Nigeria is a multi-religious country, and we're working with partners like the U.S. to fight terrorism and protect lives and property," Tuggar told Nigeria's Channels Television.

SYMBOLIC OR LONG-TERM IMPACT?

After the strike, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that there was "more to come."

The U.S. official said another strike did not appear imminent, but did not rule out future operations.

This specific strike was carried out by the United States, the official said, in part because the location was too remote for Nigerian forces to reach.

"It's partially symbolic," the official said, adding that the aim was also deterrence and to send a message that the Trump administration was prepared to use the military.

The northwestern area where Thursday's airstrike took place has been plagued since 2024 by increasing violence from members of the Lakurawa sect, a strict Sunni Islamist movement that claims affiliation with the Islamic State group.

Formed as a vigilante outfit, the group evolved into a jihadist movement enforcing strict Islamist rule across hundreds of villages in the area. Nigeria declared the group a terrorist organisation early this year.

"It's very likely this is the group Trump referred to when mentioning U.S. military strikes in Nigeria," said Confidence MacHarry, senior analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence. "They've also been linked to widespread cattle theft, with most of the stolen animals ending up in markets along the Nigeria-Niger border."

Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official who worked on Africa-related issues, said the strike was unlikely to have a big impact in the near term.

"It's not realistic to think that a few cruise missiles are going to change much in the short term," Hudson said. "The Trump administration will have to demonstrate its own long-term commitment to ending this militancy if it hopes to have any effect."

TRUMP THREATENS ACTION TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS

Nigeria's population of over 230 million people is roughly evenly divided among Christians, who predominate in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north.

Last month, Trump threatened to order his forces to take military action in Nigeria unless the authorities there acted to stop what he described as the persecution of Christians.

While Nigeria has had persistent security challenges, including violence and kidnappings by Islamist insurgents in the north, it strongly denies that Christians are subjected to systematic persecution.

Its government responded to Trump's threat by saying it intended to work with Washington against militants, while rejecting U.S. language that suggested Christians were in particular peril.

"After Trump threatened to come guns-blazing in Nigeria, we saw a Nigerian delegation visit the U.S.," said Kabir Adamu, managing director of Abuja-based Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited.

"The attorney general was involved, and agreements were signed. Then we learned of U.S. surveillance missions mapping terrorist locations."

Participating in the strike could raise a risk that the government could be perceived as endorsing Trump's language on wider sectarian strife, a sensitive issue throughout Nigeria's history.

"Trump is pandering to domestic evangelical Christian objectives with his 'Christian genocide' narrative," Adamu said.

(Reporting by Ben Ezeamalu, Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis.Editing by Peter Graff and Rosalba O'Brien)