Press Statement by African Bar Association on American Military Operation in Nigeria on 25th December 2025.

The attention of African Bar Association has been drawn to the military operation by the United States in Nigeria on Christmas Day, 25^th December 2025. 

AfBA while firmly committed to national and international obligations by sovereign states to provide protection for their citizens, pursuant to national international legal obligations and safeguards, AfBA cautions that such military operations, must on account breach the veil of sovereignty under the UN Charter, or metastasize to tacit recolonization, and militarization of Africa in furtherance of foreign ideological religious, economic and political interests.

AfBA is concerned that the United States of America and Nigeria offered differing accounts of an American military operation which was carried out by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) from a location in the Gulf of Guinea against ISIS Terrorist Forces in Sokoto State of Nigeria. 

 President Donald Trump stated in his Truth Social network that, as Commander-in-Chief of US forces, he authorized the military operation in Nigeria to obliterate militants who were committing genocide against Christians in Nigeria and that more operations were going to follow.

 The Nigeria Government through the Minister of Foreign Affairs in his public statement about the American military operation appeared defensive, He clarified that the US military operation which Nigeria supported by providing operational military intelligence was not based on religious considerations but aimed at eliminating terrorist threats, and recalled Nigeria policy that “ terrorist violence in any form whether directed against Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security”. 

These differing positions on the American military operation in a sovereign nation raise serious questions which require clarification. 

African Bar Association is concerned by the statements made by President Donald Trump, pointing to the fact that the operation was essentially an American military operation in which Nigeria participated by providing operational intelligence. He asserted that he had previously warned the terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell, and tonight there was”. 

The US military operation for the protection of Christians was couched in terms which satisfied the religious salvific missionary objectives of the American President’s far-right evangelical base. It was not to fulfill the security needs of all Nigerians even though it is widely known that the terrorist attacks are multi-purpose in nature with criminal tentacles spreading across national, transnational and international borders. 

The African Bar Association (AfBA) condemns terrorist attacks in Nigeria, in the subregion, Africa and all countries worldwide. 

AfBA welcomes legitimate international efforts which are aimed at obliterating terrorist threats to international peace and security and measures intended to protect civilians without discrimination on the basis of religion, nationality, religion, ethnicity, or other discriminatory basis. 

This principled position of AfBA is consistent with international norms, the UN Charter, Regional and Subregional Frameworks, and the Constitutional arrangements of member states of the United Nations, of which Nigeria is one.

AfBA recognizes that the UN Charter -Articles 2(4) outlaws the violation of the sovereignty of state members, circumscribed only by UN Charter Chapter VII operations -Article 42, Self-defence or collective self-defence -Article 51 and the UNGA United for Peace Resolution 377 of 3^rd November 1951.AfBA is concerned that the USA military operation in Nigeria did not fall within any of these categories. 

AfBA is concerned that the reason provided by the US for its military operation is inconsistent with the objectives of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter 1981) outlawing “all forms of colonialism, neo-colonialism, aggressive foreign military bases and all forms of discrimination particularly based on race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion or political opinion”.

  AfBA calls on Nigeria to clarify the purpose and character of this operation, in particular the allegation that it was carried out from   Africom operational bases in the Gulf of Guinea, which is inconsistent with the African Charter outlawing aggressive foreign military bases in Africa.

AfBA recognizes CONSENT of sovereign nations as a bedrock of international relations and notes the explanation provided by Nigeria that it consented to the US military operation and provided operational military intelligence for it.  The fact that Nigeria consented to the operation is not in doubt. AfBA notes Nigeria's explanation that the objective for the operation and basis of its consent was to eliminate ISIS terrorist threats against Nigerians without distinction. 

AfBA however is concerned by the lack of explanation by Nigeria why, upon giving its consent, it failed to exercise its sovereignty over the military command of the operation.  AfBA is concerned that the promise by the USA to carry out more operations in Nigeria and for the same discriminatory religious reasons may metastasize to permanent military operations in Nigeria, the Gulf of Guinea, the Sahelian Region and the entire continent of Africa. 

AfBA calls on the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which permitted this operation, to respect its constitutional order, its international, regional and subregional treaty obligations, by urgently limiting the scope of this military operation and mitigate its potential consequences in Africa.

AfBA reminds Nigeria and the international community that terrorist operations in Africa are, in many cases, fueled, enabled and sustained by colonial, neo-colonial interests and local proxies riding on the wings of terrorism to destabilize and exact command and control of sovereign economic architectures of African countries, particularly in the mineral sectors and the maritime economy and navigation.

AfBA urges the Federal Government of Nigeria, the USA and Western erstwhile colonial countries to explore significant operational avenues of fighting and defeating terrorist militant operations by activating international treaties and bilateral frameworks aimed at depriving national and international terrorist networks for the proliferation of weapons, money laundering and logistical support in their national territories to Nigeria and Africa. 

African Bar Association is a regional voice of the legal profession in Africa, bringing together the brightest minds in the world for the betterment of Africa.