OPINION: Bombs away on Christmas Day

By James E. Sulton, Jr., Ph.D.

JA International Correspondent

Last year we awakened on Christmas Day to some startling news. America’s military had launched a series of bombing raids in Northwestern Nigeria.

 The attacks took place in Sokoto, a Nigerian Muslim-majority state of four million people bordering Niger. The fusillade included more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles and multiple drones. All the weapons were fired from the deck of a Navy ship hovering in the Gulf of Guinea.

Few people in the U.S. saw this incident coming. There had been no developments or controversies involving Nigeria before this event took place. Nigeria had not drawn any attention either as a pressing foreign policy concern for the United States.

Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s information minister, said that 16 precision strikes were conducted using guided missiles from Reaper drones. US Africa Command (Africom) confirmed the strikes in Sokoto. President Bola Tinubu concurred with the military action.

 Africa on the whole has not been a focus of attention for the Trump regime. South Africa may be an exception. That is because America’s current president drew from his newsfeed that white South Africans were endangered. Rumors he heard said that white people’s land was being confiscated by the Black government and many of them were losing their lives. In response, he offered them – especially Afrikaners – VIP treatment to become immigrants to the United States.

 Otherwise, the continent has been ignored, except as a source of minerals and other natural resources. The provocation for military action in West Africa also arose through grapevine variety communications. For example, some reactionary conservatives here were loudly pushing a sensational narrative about Christian genocide occurring in Nigeria. Those stories held that innocent Christians were being slaughtered on a grand scale in the West African nation.

 Among Trump’s biggest whisperers were Fox News reporters featuring serial broadcasts about jihadist terrorists slaying Christians and suffering no consequences for their actions. In addition, senior Republican politicians like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas estimated that as many as 50,000 Christians have been killed since 2009 in Nigeria. He was echoing claims from the political right in the United States. Even Amnesty International was reporting that close to 10,000 people have been killed since 2023, including children.

Although there was no evidence for some claims, Trump took them all at face value and vowed retribution.

 In fact, there is no singular Islamic organization or armed force perpetrating genocide against Christians in Nigeria. Multiple Islamic oriented groups exist as cells or militias spreading mayhem in different parts of the country. They kill voraciously and take down Muslims as well as Christians as they go.

 However, this reality did not prevent the American military from trying to isolate one group in West Africa for obliteration. Their efforts failed. Their airstrikes fomented destruction more than anything else. They may have even given a propaganda advantage to some of the extremist groups.

In general, US policy toward Nigeria seeks to maintain an economic and security partnership. Nigeria is a major investor and counterterrorism ally of the United States. Yet, there are growing tensions over religious freedom and governance. This has led to recent American visa restrictions and related considerations.

 The friction has grown severe at times and lead the US to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPL) for religious freedom, violations. This contrasts with Nigeria’s perspective on joint security operations.