The federal government has stated that it provided the United States with the intelligence on terrorists before the strikes by the country’s forces on Christmas Day.

US President Donald Trump announced the strike on Islamic State militants in the northwest of the country over what he called the genocidal killings of Christians in Nigeria.

Speaking with Channels TV on Friday, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said he was on a phone call with US State Secretary Marco Rubio. “It’s Nigeria that provided the intelligence. We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike, and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on,” Tuggar stated.

According to Tuggar, he spoke with Rubio “extensively”, and President Bola Tinubu gave “the go-ahead” to launch the strikes.

The minister added that the strikes would be an “ongoing process” that would also involve other countries, he said without disclosing details.

The sun