Nigerian authorities have announced the decision of Nigerian armed offices to take over from the United States after Washington’s Christmas Day strikes against jihadists, relying on American reconnaissance flights to support its own operations, a Nigerian official told AFP on Tuesday.
On December 25, 2025, the United States struck sites in Sokoto State, in northwestern Nigeria , against what they described as targets linked to the Islamic State group .
Although Nigeria remains open to further US strikes, the primary role of the United States will now be to provide intelligence, the source indicated, familiar with the new security agreement with Washington.
Africa’s most populous country has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009, mainly concentrated in the northeast, while armed gangs known as “bandits” have gained a foothold in vast rural areas of the northwest and north-central parts of the country.
These strikes came after a diplomatic offensive that began in October, during which President Donald Trump claimed that the violence perpetrated by armed groups in Nigeria amounted to “persecution” and “genocide” of Christians — accusations rejected by Abuja and independent analysts.
