The Federal Government has confirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the United States’ recent airstrikes against terrorist targets in north-western Nigeria.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed this on Friday, shortly after the US Department of War and United States President, Donald Trump, announced that American forces had carried out strikes on the terrorists.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Tuggar said, “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.”
ALSO READ: ‘Best boxing day news ever’, Nigerians react to U.S. airstrikes in Nigeria
He added that Nigeria, being a multi-religious country, is working with partners like the US to combat terrorism and protect the lives and property of its citizens.
Tuggar insisted that the Federal Government would not take any action that compromises the country’s sovereignty.
“It is a collaboration, it is what we have been calling for,” he said on the breakfast programme, describing the operation as a coordinated effort rather than unilateral foreign intervention.