On Christmas Eve, the U.S. military bombed ISIS targets in Nigeria’s Sokoto State in an action the U.S. leader described as “powerful and deadly,” although the number of casualties is not known.
Emeka Umeagbalasi, director of International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), noted that the Trump administration had issued two specific demands: first, that Nigerian officials “double their efforts to practically show that it is working hard to stop egregious and grisly attacks against Christians and their sacred places of worship,” and, second, that “various Islamic jihadist groups that have flooded and infiltrated into Nigeria and occupied thousands of forest locations” leave the country.
He told CWR that the recent strikes specifically targeted ISIS-linked jihadist groups and not the Nigerian government or its territory.
“The American government is not at war with the Nigerian government. Neither is it at war with Nigeria as a whole. It is only targeting those jihadist groups and their hideouts,” Umeagbalasi explained.
He said the strikes follow a pattern of U.S. action against terrorist hideouts in other sovereign states, including Somalia and Syria, suggesting that international law permits such interventions when a state is “unable or unwilling” to address threats to civilian populations.
The Nigerian government has acknowledged the strikes, stating that they “followed continued security and intelligence sharing and cooperation between the United States and the Nigerian government.”
Umeagbalasi argues that the U.S. intervention is legally justified under international law, particularly the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the ICC statute of 1998.
“Under the Genocide Convention of 1948, sovereignty is not an excuse for the perpetuation of such jihadist attacks,” he told CWR.
The rights activist claims that multiple militant groups operating in Nigeria are now linked to ISIS, including “Jihadist Fulani militants, Jihadist Fulani bandits, Bororo’s Fulani jihadists, JNIM, the Sahelian-based terror group that recently established a brigade in Nigeria, Boko Haram, and so on.”
Fr. Humphrey Boyo of Taraku Parish in the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi told CWR that the strike was “a big sigh of relief to the Christians as it created a sense of hope for a better country.”
Fr. George Dogo, a Nigerian Catholic priest from the Diocese of Wukari, Taraba State, known for speaking out about the ongoing violence and displacement affecting Christian communities in the region, told CWR that “there had been jubilation” in Wukari following the strikes, which he described as “a great action.”
Fr. Moses Aondover Iorapuu, a senior Nigerian church leader, told CWR that his country “stands no chance against the jihadists” without U.S. military support.
Welcoming the strikes as “pre-emptory,” Fr. Iorapuu explained that his diocese had already rescheduled Christmas Masses based on credible threats. He expressed confidence in the U.S. action, adding that “when President Donald Trump says something, he means it,” and warned that the jihadists have “infiltrated the political class.”
Such infiltration, according to Umeagbalasi, was fostered by then Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, who filled the country’s military and administration with his Fulani tribesmen with the express aim of persecuting Christians.
“That is why the Nigerian military has become a jihadist military,” he said.
Umeagbalasi also raised concerns about media coverage of religious violence in Nigeria, suggesting a bias in reporting.
“Whenever Muslims are targeted… the level of media publicity will be so high… But when Christians are killed … the same media will not report it,” he claimed.
While emphasizing that his organization opposes attacks on any religious group, Umeagbalasi suggested that U.S. intervention is necessary to prevent a larger humanitarian catastrophe.
“Nigeria is a country with a very large population- 280 million people. And if you fail to take this type of preventive action, then definitely you are leaving the country with no option but to implode into complex humanitarian emergencies or catastrophes,” he warned.
Prelates and campaigners in Nigeria have insisted that Christians are facing a genocide in the African country, a point made even more poignant by the Pontifical Charity, Aid to the Church in Need, which has classified Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places for a Christian to live.
Fr. Boyo believes a sustainable solution to the crisis will come if sustained pressure is brought to bear on the Nigerian government to open up the political space where leaders will be held accountable.
“A long-term solution is to pressure the Nigerian government to amend electoral laws that will make elections credible, and people’s votes to be counted.. If we elect leaders, we will make them account for their actions,” he told CWR.
I was Today Years Old when I learned this: People from Nigeria are known as Nigerians. But People from the neighboring nation of Niger are called Nigeriens. Both nations have been in the news lately, so it’s good to know this fact.