The United States has deployed a team of troops to Nigeria following recent joint security cooperation between both countries, officials have confirmed.
Dagvin Anderson, General in charge of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), disclosed the development during a press briefing on Tuesday.
This marks the first public acknowledgment of US military personnel on the ground in Nigeria since the Trump administration launched missile strikes against terrorists in Sokoto on Christmas Day.
Anderson said the deployment followed his meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome late last year.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” he stated.
Details on the size of the team or its arrival date in Nigeria were not disclosed.
Weeks ago, Allison Hooker, US Under-Secretary of State, led a delegation of eight federal agencies to Abuja for a bilateral working group meeting with Nigerian security officials.
Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), headed the Nigerian delegation.
The meeting followed Nigeria’s designation as a ‘country of particular concern’ (CPC) by former President Donald Trump. At the time, Trump had threatened to send troops into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our Christians.”
On December 25, 2019, the US carried out airstrikes against terrorist enclaves in Bauni Forest, Tangaza Local Government Area, Sokoto State.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Nigerian Ministry of Defence were unsuccessful as of Tuesday.
