Foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar says the U.S. military strikes against terrorists in Sokoto were carried out with President Bola Tinubu’s approval.

“It was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the U.S. strike in Nigeria. I spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for 19 minutes before the strike, and we agreed to talk to President Tinubu for his go-ahead, and he gave it.

“After the approval, I spoke again with Marco Rabio five minutes before the strike was launched against the terrorists,” stated Mr Tuggar on Channels TV, following the Christmas Day bombing.

Earlier, in a statement, the foreign affairs ministry spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, confirmed that the Tinubu government worked with international partners, including the U.S., to decimate the extremists in Sokoto.

The alliance, he said, “led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by airstrikes in the North-West”.

No civilians were harmed in the strikes, Mr Ebienfa stated.

The ministry official stressed that all “counter-terrorism efforts are guided by the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity”.