US military delegation visits Tinubu at Aso Rock

US military delegation visits Tinubu at Aso Rock

President Bola Tinubu on Sunday received a high-level delegation from the United States Africa Command led by its Commander, Gen Dagvin Anderson, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Sunday’s meeting comes amid intensified security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, following the Christmas Day airstrikes on terrorist camps in Sokoto State.

The State House media office revealed this in a terse photo news statement relayed to journalists Sunday evening.

The meeting comes months after US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern.”

Also present at the meeting were the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Nigeria, Keith Heffern; Command Sergeant Major Garric M. Banfield, AFRICOM’s Command Senior Enlisted Leader; and Amb Peter Vrooman, AFRICOM’s Senior Foreign Policy Adviser.

On the Nigerian side, President Tinubu was joined by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; the Minister of Defence, Gen Christopher Musa (retd.); the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Waidi Shaibu; and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lt Gen Emmanuel Uandiandeye.

The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Tosin Ajayi, were also in attendance.

The visit follows the December 25 precision strikes in Sokoto State, which AFRICOM confirmed were conducted “at the direction of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, and in coordination with Nigerian authorities.”

The strikes targeted Islamic State-linked militants in the Bauni forest of Tangaza.

In October 2025, Trump designated Nigeria a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act, accusing the country of tolerating “severe violations of religious freedom” and the “mass slaughter” of Christians by “radical Islamists.”

He subsequently threatened military intervention if the killings continued.

The Federal Government rejected the characterisation, insisting that terrorist groups target Nigerians of all faiths.

The Tinubu administration reportedly hired a US-based lobbying firm, DCI Group, for $9m to communicate its efforts to protect Christian communities and maintain American support for counterterrorism operations in West Africa.

The US said it will deepen security cooperation with Nigeria after Ribadu visited Washington in November 2025 for discussions with Pentagon officials.

AFRICOM said it has continued intelligence-sharing and joint operations with the Nigerian military.

Credit -Punch