A spokesperson for the Nigerian military has disputed a statement from a senior US official about a ‘large haul’ of electronic materials taken from terrorists in Nigeria and removed by US forces.
Samalia Uba, Nigeria’s Director of Defence Information, told PREMIUM TIMES that the materials were not seized by US forces. Instead, they were voluntarily handed over to the US by the Nigerian government as part of ongoing security cooperation.
In an interview with our reporter, Mr Uba said the materials contained declassified information about past counter-terrorism efforts by the Nigerian Armed Forces and were voluntarily “given” to the US.
This is the first time a Nigerian official has commented on this issue since a US official made the announcement.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that US Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka, said late June that American forces recovered a large cache of electronic materials from terrorists in Nigeria.
Mr Gorka claimed US soldiers seized the materials during an operation that led to the deaths of 199 jihadists. “I watched our operators kill 199 jihadis in one operation,” he said, adding they seized an “unprecedented volume of intelligence materials.”
He also called the materials the largest captured since the attacks on 11 September 2001, which changed US counter-terrorism policy. The 9/11 attacks are remembered as the biggest terror attack in the country.
“From that (Nigerian) raid, we needed an extra plane to bring home all the electronic material that we captured in those camps. The haul was three times bigger than any enemy electronics haul since 9/11,” he stated.
Intelligence sharing is part of the collaboration between Nigeria and the US. Although Mr Gorka did not name the military operation, his description matches a joint Nigeria-US raid announced in May. This operation resulted in the death of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, also known as Abubakar Mainok, a leading commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Mr Gorka mentioned this operation while discussing the successes of the Trump administration’s counter-terrorism efforts. Key US officials often refer to this operation as proof of an effective counter-terrorism mission in Nigeria. In May, Secretary of State Pete Hegseth pointed to this operation to support President Donald Trump’s “unwavering commitment to the protection of Christians.”
When asked why the Nigerian government had not publicly shared the information about the materials, the military spokesperson said it was part of the country’s joint counter-terrorism efforts, which “has been extensively publicised.”
“It is not a new operation,” he said. “We have previously communicated our highly successful joint operations in May. Nigeria-US joint operations and collaboration are very much on course.”
Likewise, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also told PREMIUM TIMES that the materials were shared to help the US understand terrorist activities in Nigeria better.
“I don’t think it is an indictment that we shared this information with them,” he said. “Sharing intelligence is part of the counter-terrorism cooperation Nigeria has with the US.”
“We share intelligence with them, especially with the arrival of their troops on our soil to help combat terrorist attacks,” he added.
Mr Ebienfa also mentioned that the federal government is more focused on solving its security issues rather than making official statements.
The senior US official noted that the intelligence gained from the operation was even more important than the “neutralisation of 199 jihadists.” Six weeks after the operation, the US accused and sanctioned Mukhtar Adamu, a bureau de change operator in Lagos, for helping the West African faction of ISIS with financial transactions through his BDC firms. The sanctioned firms are Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, and Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited.
Following the US announcement, Nigeria also sanctioned Mr Adamu and his companies.
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