In the wake of a US military airstrike in Sokoto State on Christmas Day, a Nigerian civil society group has formally petitioned the National Assembly, demanding urgent oversight hearings and questioning the government's cooperation with the foreign military operation.
The petition, submitted on December 26, 2025, by the Nigerian Citizens Investigative Platform (NICIP), calls on the Senate Committee on Defense and the House Committee on Navy and Airforce to summon top security officials for immediate questioning. The group warns that the operation, approved by President Bola Tinubu, risks undermining Nigeria's sovereignty and inflaming religious tensions .
"The silence or secondary role of the Nigerian military in the announcement of these strikes is a slight to our national pride and a danger to our constitutional order," states the petition, signed by Comrade IG Wala .
A Formal Request for Government Accountability
Acting swiftly after US President Donald Trump announced the "powerful and deadly strike" against ISIS militants, the NICIP invoked the oversight powers of the legislature . The group has posed three critical questions to be addressed by the Minister of Defense and the National Security Adviser :
1. Authorization Protocol: They demand clarity on whether Nigeria submitted a formal, written request for the US to carry out the strike, or if the action was based on a US foreign policy doctrine that permits unilateral intervention when a nation is deemed "unwilling or unable" to address a threat on its own soil.
2. Target Discrepancy: The petitioners challenge the differing narratives from US and Nigerian authorities. They note that President Trump's announcement framed the attack as a response to the killing of "primarily, innocent Christians," while Nigeria's own security reports typically label the threat in the northwest as "banditry." The group argues this "ideological gap puts our national social fabric at risk of sectarian division" .
3. Civilian Harm: Citing a tragic history of erroneous Nigerian airstrikes in the North—including the Rann and Tudun Biri incidents—the petition demands to know what safeguards were implemented to prevent US munitions from killing Nigerian civilians .
The group is calling for a full, publicly released "After-Action Report" on the strikes .
A Deepening Controversy Over Sovereignty and Strategy
The petition arrives amid a heated public and official debate. While US Africa Command (AFRICOM) stated the strike was conducted "in coordination with Nigerian authorities," the precise nature of that coordination remains a point of contention . Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, confirmed the government provided intelligence for the strike and that President Tinubu gave the "go ahead" after Tuggar consulted with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio .
However, the government's narrative sharply diverges from Washington's. Minister Tuggar has stressed the operation was a "joint" counter-terrorism effort, "not targeting any religion" . This is a direct counter to President Trump's religiously charged justification, which Nigerian officials have consistently rejected, arguing that militant groups target both Muslims and Christians in a complex security crisis .
On the ground in Sokoto, the attack caused panic and confusion. Residents of the village of Jabo described a sudden, intense event. "As it approached our area, the heat became intense," recounted resident Abubakar Sani. "Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out... We have never experienced anything like this before" .
Security analyst Bulama Burkati noted the anxiety is worsened by a lack of official information about the targets and any resulting casualties . The US Defense Department has released video of the strike, which defense analysts believe shows the launch of Tomahawk cruise missiles from a US Navy destroyer in the Gulf of Guinea—a significant shift in US military tactics in the region .
The petition from NICIP forces the National Assembly to decide whether to exercise its constitutional power to scrutinize the executive branch's handling of a sensitive national security partnership that sits at the volatile intersection of sovereignty, religion, and counter-terrorism strategy.
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