Nigeria at a crossroads: Autonomy or vassalage
On the eve of Christmas, 2025, US warships in the Atlantic launched missile strikes on Nigeria. Of the country’s six geopolitical zones, only one was targeted: the predominantly Muslim, crisis- ridden North West. Some strikes reportedly hit locations in Sokoto State. The US government swiftly confirmed the operation, claiming it targeted terrorist groups “genociding Christians”. […]
On the eve of Christmas, 2025, US warships in the Atlantic launched missile strikes on Nigeria.
Of the country’s six geopolitical zones, only one was targeted: the predominantly Muslim, crisis- ridden North West. Some strikes reportedly hit locations in Sokoto State. The US government swiftly confirmed the operation, claiming it targeted terrorist groups “genociding Christians”.
Shortly afterwards, Nigeria’s government acknowledged both its awareness of—and participation in—the strikes.
This raises a fundamental question: why strike the North West when US officials themselves have repeatedly claimed that violence against Christians is concentrated in the majority-Christian North Central (Middle Belt)—and that the Nigerian state facilitates it? What has changed? Has President Tinubu’s government yielded so completely to US pressure that it is willing to compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty for America’s political agenda?
For over a decade, insecurity in the North West has been driven by banditry fueled by weakborders, illegal mining, poverty and unemployment. The North East, by contrast, has faced a distinct insurgency since 2009 due to Boko Haram, whose victims have been overwhelminglyMuslim. Meanwhile, violence in the North Central often centres on competition over fertile land between mostly Christian farming communities and nomadic herders. These dynamics show that insecurity-related crisis even in nNorthern Nigeria is not necessarily similar; each is shaped by specific political, economic and social conditions. Conflating different issues only deepens misunderstanding—and yet this is precisely what Trump’s America and the republican campappear to be doing.
In October, 2025, Senator Ted Cruz accused Nigeria of enabling the mass killing of Christians in the North Central, claiming—without independently verified evidence—that 50,000 Christians had been killed since 2009. Such assertions exemplify how Nigeria’s complex conflicts are politicised internationally.
How then does bombing the North West stop a so-called genocide allegedly occurring elsewhere? One might expect foreign powers to misread Nigeria’s realities in pursuit of their own interests. What is far harder to justify is Nigeria’s own government collaborating in attacks on its territory. Does this imply acceptance of the narrative that Muslims are genociding Christians—while distancing the state by suggesting the violence is not state-backed? Why bomb Sokoto for crimes alleged to occur in another region? What precedents are the US and the Tinubu government setting? Nigerians of all faiths are victims of violence. Why is only one group’s suffering elevated? Is the life of any Nigerian more sacred than another’s?
In September, 2025, Senator Cruz introduced the “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act” which would sanction Nigerian officials deemed complicit in the killing of Christians. The bill is discriminatory, undermines constitutional equality and seeks to legitimise US’ interference in Nigeria’s internal affairs by granting Washington unilateral authority to define “complicity”. Such leverage is clearly intended to advance US strategic interests.
Since when did the US replace the UN, the African Union (AU) or ECOWAS in managing Nigeria’s security challenges?
Ultimately, America’s sudden intervention appears less about protecting lives and more about eroding Nigeria’s sovereignty in today’s ever shifting global order. The move also underscores America’s increasingly desperate attempt to retain relevance in the region after being forced out of its largest military base in neighbouring Niger and subsequently replaced by Russia and its allies.
The picture becomes clearer when viewed in context. Sokoto State is Nigeria’s closest point to Niamey, the Nigerien capital, and is home to a former US military facility, now reportedly occupied by Russian forces. This raises a troubling question: is Nigeria’s domestic crisis being further weaponised against it? The real question is whether Nigeria is prepared to assert its independence and address insecurity on its own terms—or whether Tinubu’s government lacks the will and capacity to do so.
Abdulrahman Zubairu
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