A senior figure in Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party has criticised what he described as the belated intervention of the international community in the country’s long-running battle against terrorism, following recent US airstrikes against militant groups in the north-west.
Segun Sowunmi, a PDP chieftain in Ogun state, made the remarks on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics while responding to reports that American forces had carried out strikes on Islamic State-linked militants.
“I felt that the world came in a little bit too late,” Sowunmi said. “The security resources available to the world suggest that they have eyes in the skies already, and many countries have the capability.”
He contrasted Washington’s actions with what he described as the silence of other major powers. “You must thank the United States that when the chips were really down, Britain, which should ordinarily have a bigger interest, didn’t say anything. China, which has also been active here with various projects, said nothing. America said something.”
Referring to US president Donald Trump, Sowunmi added: “Trump said, ‘This is getting too much; we are going to do something.’”
He described the situation as deeply painful for Nigerians, likening the killing of terrorists to watching wayward children being lost. While welcoming the coordination with Nigerian authorities, he warned that unilateral action would have raised troubling questions about sovereignty and deterrence.
“Thankfully, he didn’t just come into the country without our security infrastructure,” Sowunmi said. “If he had stayed in the Gulf of Guinea and fired missiles without consulting the Nigerian government and people, what military capabilities do we even have for deterrence?”
Sowunmi stressed that the moment should not be celebrated, urging Nigerians across religious divides to reflect soberly on the crisis. “I think Nigerians, both Muslims and Christians, need to understand this is not a happy moment,” he said.
He also argued that Nigeria would be better served by treating terrorism primarily as criminality, rather than framing it along ethnic or religious lines, which he said only deepens divisions.
On Christmas Day, Trump announced that US forces had carried out deadly strikes against Islamic State militants in north-western Nigeria, vowing further action if the group continued attacks on Christians. The US president justified the operation as a response to what he described as a “genocide” against Christians, claiming the violence had reached unprecedented levels.
The strikes followed Washington’s decision on 31 October to designate Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” and impose visa restrictions on Nigerians.
Nigeria’s ministry of foreign affairs later confirmed the operation, saying it targeted terrorist elements through collaboration with the United States as part of “structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America”, aimed at tackling terrorism and violent extremism.
