Ndume urges Tinubu to extend US airstrikes to North-east

Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, has urged President Bola Tinubu to extend ongoing United States-Nigeria operations against terrorist groups to the north-east region of Nigeria.

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Mr Ndume, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram maintain strongholds in the North-east that require immediate military action through targeted aerial bombardments.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the senator welcomed Nigeria’s collaboration with the United States on counterterrorism operations but stressed that such efforts should not be limited to parts of the North-west.

“We welcome this cooperation between Nigeria and the United States in targeting terrorist hideouts.

“I am calling on them to extend it to the North east where ISWAP and Boko Haram have their three known black spots: Lake Chad, Mandara Mountain and Sambisa, which are exclusive strongholds of ISWAP and Boko Haram,” he said.

The North-east region comprises Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states.

The US airstrike

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the joint US–Nigeria operation against identified terrorist targets in Tangaza and Tambuwal Local Hovernment Areas of Sokoto State.

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The operation, which took place on Christmas Day, targeted locations believed to be hideouts of Islamic State-linked militants along the Nigeria–Niger border.

The attacks were the result of intelligence sharing and strategic coordination between the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Nigerian military.

In recent years, Tangaza has seen the emergence of a group known as the Lakurawa. Originally a group of foreign herders from Sahelian countries, they have evolved into a terrorist group that imposes taxes on locals and enforces their own version of justice, often clashing with traditional authorities.

A US military official told The New York Times that the strike involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea, hitting insurgents in two ISIS camps in Sokoto State.

US Africa Command said its initial assessment indicated that “multiple” ISIS terrorists were killed at the request of Nigerian authorities.

Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Tuggar, later confirmed that President Bola Tinubu had approved the strikes and that Nigeria had shared intelligence with the US to ensure the strikes’ success.

Call for expanded military support

Mr Ndume further urged the federal government to ensure that the collaboration with the United States goes beyond airstrikes.

He called for enhanced training, intelligence sharing, logistics support and the deployment of attack helicopters to assist Nigerian ground troops in combating terrorism.

READ ALSO: NAF airstrikes kill scores of terrorists, destroy camps in Zamfara – Spokesperson

“I also want to suggest that the military cooperation with the United States should extend to ground troops in training, intelligence and logistics. They should also back it up with attack helicopters support for ground troops,” he stated.

Reacting to the recent suicide bombing at a mosque in Gamboru, Maiduguri, which claimed five lives, the senator expressed condolences to the victims and their families.

“I also sympathise with the bomb blasts victims in Borno State, where many people were killed and injured. The incident in the mosque in Gamboru is a clear indication that the terrorists don’t care about religion.

“In this instant, on the eve of Christmas, all the victims were Muslims. So, the narrative of Christian genocide doesn’t exists. The terrorists making life unbearable for our people are blind to religion.”