On Christmas day, United States President Donald Trump announced a ‘powerful and deadly strike’ targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in the region.

 

Trump said on Truth Social that the terrorists targeted have been ‘viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!’

 

He said the group had not heeded warnings, leading to the Christmas night strike.

 

Hours after the announcements by Trump and the US Department of War, Tuggar told Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday: ‘Now that the US is cooperating, we would do it jointly, and we would ensure, just as the President emphasised yesterday before he gave the go-ahead, that it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other.

 

‘We are a multi-religious country, and we are working with partners like the US to fight terrorism and safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians’.

 

Some critics had viewed the strikes as a violation of Nigeria’s territorial integrity, but Tuggar explained the Federal Government would not take any actions that would violate the country’s sovereignty.

 

‘It was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the US strike in Nigeria. I spoke with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for 19 minutes before the strike, and we agreed to talk to President Tinubu for his go-ahead, and he gave it.

 

‘After the approval, I spoke again with Marco Rabio five minutes before the strike was launched against the terrorists’.

 

On Thursday, the Department of Defence said that ”multiple ISIS terrorists’ were killed in the strikes conducted at the behest of the Nigerian government.

 

‘May God bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.

 

Although the details of the attack were not stated, the US Department of War later published a short video clip showing an airstrike in Nigeria.

 

The US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the strikes in Sokoto were in ‘coordination with Nigerian authorities’.

 

“The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation’, Hegseth wrote on X.

 

Thursday’s strikes come several weeks after the Republican president said that Christians in Nigeria faced an ‘existential threat’ that amounted to ‘genocide’.

 

Trump placed Nigeria back on the list of “Countries of Particular Concern’, and threatened military action in the country if the issue is not addressed. He later imposed visa restrictions on Nigerians.

 

But the Nigerian authorities rejected the framing of the violence in the country as religious, saying people of diverse faiths are targeted in killings in the nation.