A senior presidential aide has confirmed that the Nigerian government was in constant talks with top officials of President Donald Trump before the Christmas Day strike by America against militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in north-west.
Ademola Oshodi, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Bola Tinubu on Foreign Affairs and Protocol, in an interview on Al Jazeera News Network, said, “Communications have been ongoing for weeks now.”
Camps run by the ISIS group in Sokoto State were hit near the border with the Niger Republic, where militants have sought to establish a foothold.
President Donald Trump said the Christmas Day strikes had been “deadly” and labelled the group “terrorist scum”, saying ISIS had been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians”.
According to Oshodi, there would be no impulsive arrangement in which America or any other foreign power comes into Nigeria to assist us without the knowledge of the leadership.
The comments by SSA Oshodi comes after Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar also confirmed that the Christmas Day strike was a “joint operation” and had “nothing to do with a particular religion”.
Tuggar said the strikes had been planned “for quite some time” using intelligence provided by Nigeria.
NewsQuest reports that the Federal Government has also not ruled out further strikes.
