The Nigeria government said President Bola Tinubu gave the go-ahead for the US strikes against terrorists in the country’s North-Western region.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said this on Friday, hours after the US Department of War and President Donald Trump announced the North American nation had conducted strikes against the terrorists.

Tuggar said: “It was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the US strike in Nigeria. I had a 19-minute conversation with US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, prior to the strike, and we agreed to consult with President Tinubu for his approval, which he granted. Following the approval, I had another conversation with Marco Rubio five minutes before the strike was launched against the terrorists”.

He said further: “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,” the minister said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

“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,” the minister said.

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

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