Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed that Nigerian information was crucial to the recent US airstrike that was conducted there as part of a coordinated counterterrorism effort.
Recall that President Trump ordered the United States to conduct airstrikes against terrorists in Northern Nigeria.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Tuggar claimed that Nigeria provided the intelligence that guided the strike and collaborated extensively with US authorities all along the way.
The minister claims that before to the operation, he had lengthy discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He clarified that before the strike was carried out, there were several phone conversations.
Tuggar disclosed that the discussions with US officials resulted in discussions with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, after receiving a thorough briefing, approved the operation.
He emphasised that the operation was a counterterrorism action carried out under an existing collaborative security framework between the two nations and that both Nigeria and the United States had agreed on how the operation would be publicised.
The minister underlined that there was no religious motivation behind the airstrike and that its only goals were to fight terrorism and save Nigerian lives.
Read his words below;
“It’s Nigeria that provided the intelligence. We have been working closely with the Americans. This is what we’ve always been hoping for to work the the Americans and other countries to combat t£rrorism and stop the d£ath of innocent Nigerians. This is a vindication of Tinubu administration for those who thought there was some foot dragging, or that the government wasn’t doing enough.
I was on the phone for 19 minutes with the US secretary of State Marco Rubio. We spoke extensively and we agreed that I was going to speak with president Tinubu to give the go ahead. We also agreed that the statement that would follow would clearly show that this was a strike against terrorism, part of an ongoing joint operation between Nigeria and the United States
This has nothing to do with religion. It is about protecting Nigerians.”
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