Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - U.S. strikes ISIS in Nigeria after Trump warnings on Christian killings - The

Oluwatoyin was excited at the bombardment, by the US Navy warship stationed in the Gulf of Guinea, of what was described as 'ISIS hideouts' said to be located within the Bauni forest axis of Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State, in the early morning of December 26, 2025. Oluwatoyin extrapolated his joy over the bombardment to all the people of Southern Nigeria thus, "As far as I can see, Southern Nigerians are over the moon on this strike and want more. This cooperation with the Americans is one of the best things he (Tinubu) has ever done, particularly, if it works." Even when Oluwatoyin is not sure if the air bombardment of the said ISIS hideouts in Sokoto will end Islamist's uprising in the North he is, however, wishing for more air strikes regardless of if the measure taken is right and effective against the cause(s) of the uprising. After the US had carried out the Air strikes in Sokoto, President Donald Trump wrote on his Social Truth Platform thus, "Happy Christmas to you all, including the dead terrorists, of which there are going to be  several more, if their slaughter of Christians continues."  The Arch-Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Kukah, had previously denied that the conflict in the North was between Muslims and Christians and the death tolls caused by the terrorists have proportionately been more on the side of the majority Muslims in Sokoto than the minority Christians there. In addition to that the Federal Government of Nigeria self has denied that there is ongoing genocide against Christians in Nigeria. Obviously, the Nigerian government and President Trump's US government are not in agreement on the cause(s) of terrorism in Nigeria, especially in the North.

Gracefully and gratefully, Professor Victor Okafor posed two questions demanding answers on the targets for the US precision air strikes in Sokoto. The questions are: (1) Why the choice of North-western targets in Nigeria? (2) Is the North West rather than the North east, the main source of the scourge of Boko Haram/Islamic terrorism all these years in Nigeria?

Answering the questions properly will expose His Excellency as His Fraudulency Donald Trump. As at the end of year 2024, Sokoto state had 94,729 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) driven by terrorists from their farms and homes in Sokoto State to live in tents, refugee camps. The States of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe have together 4.4 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of which 2.4 million are from Borno as at the end of 2024. Certainly the figures must have increased in 2025. The absolute majority of IDPs dwelling permanently in refugee camps in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Sokoto are Muslims, but after the order of His Fraudulency, President Donald Trump, to bomb ISIS hideouts in Sokoto, Northwest, the refugees remain stocked in camps and still cannot return home. If the precision strikes had been directed at the North Central States of Benue and Plateau where majority of the IDPs living in refugee camps are Christians and followed by the refugees returning to their homes, Trump's air strikes order in defence of his purported fellow Nigerian Christians would have been considered reasonable. Air strikes while the IDPs in Nigeria remain in refugee camps are just like giving loin cloths to people shivering under heavy harmattan breeze.

Reflecting on the past 26 years of Constitutional rule in Nigeria, one will discover that the cause of banditry, kidnap for ransom, insurrection and armed robberies is lack of patriotism to the nation on the part of civil/military leaders. Despite the fact that they are handsomely remunerated above the general purchasing power of Nigerian masses, funds meant for education, infrastructure, defence and security have been stolen with impunity by the joint civil-military leaders of the country. Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Acts, 2003, in conjunction with the letters of Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, actually make education free and compulsory up to junior secondary school. Neither the Universal Basic Acts, 2003, nor Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution has been complied with by the civilian administrators of Nigeria. In the North the Universal Basic Education Act was not even adopted and signed into law, as required by the Constitution, except by 8 out of 19 States. The Governors and Commissioners of Education in all the Northern States became millionaires while children denied and deprived education graduated into banditry and kidnapping for ransom. Responding to the feudal aristocrats claim that Allah gives money to whoever He pleases, the Almajiri warriors queried about what the feudal aristocrats had done for Allah to make them rich but which they, the Almajiris had not done to make Allah give them money. It would appear as if Allah gave Almajiris gun to get back their own share of national wealth from the greedy feudal aristocrats and their allies. 

Section 16 (2d) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates, "The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national living minimum wage, old age care and pensions, unemployment and sick benefits, and welfare of the disabled, are provided for."  Twenty-six years after this section of the Constitution was written, no attempt has been made to implement it. Stealing of funds with impunity by public officials whether in military uniforms or civilian attires have been the order of the days and years. Bandits, terrorists and insurgents  would not have constituted any problem to the Nigerian Armed Forces if funds allocated to purchase arms, recruit police and soldiers are expended for the purpose for which funds were allocated. Instead, Service Chiefs converted allocated funds to their personal wealth, and whenever bandits, terrorists and insurgents came, they were confronted with ghost policemen and ghost soldiers. President Trump can bomb as much as he wants in Nigeria, but as long as there are no adequate number of ground forces to counter and repel illegal armed fighters, security of citizens, regardless of religious faith, will never be certain. 

S. Kadiri 

 

    

On Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 8:55:07 AM UTC+1 Oluwatoyin Adepoju wrote:

''Democracy is not wishful thinking. It is the system of government preferred by the masses. The electoral process would not be enough to prevent violence. However, combined with heavy investments in education, infrastructure, and industrialization, there is likely to be significant increase in happiness and civility, making militarism obsolete. Yes, the Middle East crisis would be more effectively solved through a single state solution for all residents to share the territory on the basis of one person one vote and the right of refugees to return. The decades of relying on militarism have proven that War is good for absolutely nothing.'' -Biko Agozino 

(emphasis mine)

Valuable when employed judiciously.

While you engage in  ''heavy investments in education, infrastructure, and industrialization [ leading to] significant increase in happiness and civility'' how best should you respond to terrorist campaigns of murder and massacre?

Preach to them?

Dialogue with them as Nigeria has been doing as they escalate their campaigns and take over increasing ranges of territory?

Nigeria is already ''a single state [in which] all residents share the territory on the basis of one person one vote'', yet some are insisting that is not enough for them as they want to dominate the social space through murder, massacre and terror.

The Nigerian situation is very different from the struggle between the Palestinians and Israel. 

i wonder why Biko is in effect sermonizing out of context, preaching a doctrine that is impractical as a single solution to the issues being discussed.

toyin

On Sun, Dec 28, 2025 at 8:30 AM Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovadep...@gmail.com> wrote:

thanks.

the article reinforces my position though

a  thrust of the article is excerpted below

''Jihadist Terrorism in the United States Remains Rare

''As the Bourbon Street attack suggests, the jihadist movement in the United States is resilient. However, the data so far do not indicate that it is resurgent comparable with its past peaks. The number of jihadist attacks and disrupted plots against the United States decreased after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in 2019 and has stayed much lower than at the peak of its territorial control.

The decline in jihadist attacks in the United States is a complex phenomenon resulting from a variety of factors, some of which are out of policymakers' control. 

Military pressure on the Islamic State has likely deprived would-be jihadist terrorists in the United States of an important source of support for their attacks.

The reduction in facilitated attacks may be credited, at least in part, to U.S. counterterrorist pressure. Although virtual facilitators do not require control over territory the way terrorist trainers of the past have, facilitation still requires skills like ideological persuasion or bomb-making training—skills that diminish within terrorist organizations when operatives are killed or captured.''

How does this align with my views?

Military force is critical in defeating and as a deterrent against violent ideologies, particularly those that want to overthrow the state.

Secondly, I hold that even in Northern Nigeria, with a Muslim majority population, any group that pursues its goals of creating a particular kind of Islamic society through terrorism rather than through the democratic process must never be legitimized, never be integrated into politics for any reason so as to avoid a degeneration into poisoned ideologies aligned with inhumane ways of reading the Quran and other foundations of Islamic thought.

There is a critical need to decouple Islam from the colonising and imperial culture of violent jihad, one of the greatest problems of the modern world.

Boko Haram, ISWAP, ISIS, who are seeking to impose their version of Islam on others through violence are of course different from Hamas who are seeking justice in connection with the loss of Palestinian homeland.

thanks

toyin

On Sun, Dec 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM John Edward Philips (Yahaya Danjuma) <yahaya....@gmail.com> wrote:

On Dec 27, 2025, at 15:50, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovadep...@gmail.com> wrote:

How come there has been no further Islamist terrorist attack in the US after 9/11?

This isn't quite true. Just because you haven't heard about something doesn't mean it didn't happen. 

Jihadist Terrorism in the United States csis.org

 

"Analysis of the jihadist attacks yields three main findings. First, the frequency of recorded jihadist attacks and plots against targets in the United States has been low since the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in 2019. . . . 

"Second, the lethality of jihadist terrorism in the United States has fallen since the territorial defeat of the Islamic State. . . . 

"Third, international terrorist organizations have inspired, not directed, jihadist terrorism in the United States,"

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