Nigeria is adjusting how it conducts air operations against armed groups as part of an updated security arrangement with the United States. Under the new framework, Nigerian fighter aircraft will increasingly rely on U.S. reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering...
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Nigeria: Questions Mount Over U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria
By Leslie Varenne, MondAfrique: The American strikes carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day raise serious questions. Beyond the confusion surrounding the objectives of the operation, inconsistencies in official statements, and the unclear nature of the targets, the...
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Nigeria: Campaigning for Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election begins
Posted On 29 September 2022
Campaigning for Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election got off to a low-key start on Wednesday, with candidates holding a book launch and rallies or postponing official inaugurations. Five months before the ballot, four top candidates are emerging in a tight battle to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in governing Africa’s most populous country.
The fragile state of the continent’s largest economy, corruption and insecurity from jihadists and criminal gangs will be urgent problems for the winner of the February 25 election. “This time around, I don’t want just to sit back and say whatever they bring for me is okay by me,” said student Apollo Sasha, 26, when asked about the campaigning. “Let me see if my vote will count or not.”
Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is fielding former Lagos governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose unofficial campaign slogan has become “It’s my turn”. Tinubu, 70, known as the “Godfather of Lagos”, says his time as the city’s governor shows his experience, but analysts say he must shake off anti-establishment sentiment fuelled by perceptions about APC’s economic management.
APC this week said it was postponing the official launch of its campaign indefinitely to “accommodate more stakeholders and interests within the APC family”. Some APC supporters held a small rally in the capital Abuja, waving the party’s flag, local media reported. Opposition Peoples Democratic Party or PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, 75, a former vice president and entrepreneur, began his campaign on Wednesday with a launch of his own book in Abuja.
Touting his business acumen and experience, Abubakar says he can “rescue” Nigeria, which has been hit hard by low oil production, a weak naira currency and high inflation. The PDP governed Nigeria after the 1999 end of military rule until 2015 when APC’s upset victory bought Buhari to power for his first term. He beat PDP’s Abubakar in 2019 to get re-elected. “Even a blind man knows that Atiku who was a vice president is the tested, tried and trusted,” said PDP supporter and former official Mohammed Abba-Gana at the book launch.
Alternative challengers
But the APC and PDP have both presented candidates seen by many younger Nigerians as part of the country’s ageing political old guard. That has left space for the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, a former state governor, to challenge the two main parties. The fourth candidate is New Nigeria Peoples Party or NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso, another former governor and minister. Several local opinion polls have given an early lead to Obi, though methods have varied and one showed more of those polled were still undecided.
A former governor of the southeastern Anambra State who ran with the PDP’s Abubakar against Buhari in 2019, Obi left the PDP to run as the Labour Party’s candidate. Obi, who plans to streamline government and has gained a strong following online among younger Nigerians, attended a solidarity campaign in the central city of Jos on Wednesday. His campaign has yet to start, his campaign manager said in a Tweet. But political experts say he must build up momentum for the Labour Party’s lack of nationwide structure compared with the two mainstream parties.
AFP
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Nigeria is modifying how it conducts air operations against armed groups under a revised security arrangement with the United States. The new framework places greater emphasis on U.S. intelligence and reconnaissance support while shifting operational responsibility to Nigerian forces. The approach reflects Abuja’s effort to balance external assistance with domestic control amid ongoing security challenges in the country’s northwest.
Nigeria: Questions Mount Over U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria
The U.S. airstrikes carried out in northern Nigeria on Christmas Day have triggered confusion and skepticism across the region. Conflicting statements from Washington and Abuja, uncertainty over the identity of the targeted groups, and reports from strike locations where no militants were found have raised serious questions about the operation’s objectives. In an already fragile security environment, the lack of clarity risks adding instability rather than addressing Nigeria’s complex security challenges.
Nigeria’s Conflict Goes Global With Washington Entering the Fight
U.S. airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria mark a rare moment in which a long-running domestic security crisis crossed into direct American military involvement. While Nigerian forces have relied on aerial bombardment for years against insurgents and armed groups, the decision to authorize U.S. strikes introduces new political signaling, diplomatic pressure, and strategic implications. This analysis examines why the intervention occurred now, how it differs from Nigeria’s own military operations, and what it reveals about the growing internationalization of conflict in West Africa.
