Friday, 26 December 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemns the United States of America’s airstrikes carried out on Nigerian soil on 25 December 2025, which were publicly announced and celebrated by President Donald Trump as “powerful and deadly” attacks against what he termed “ISIL Islamic State” targets in northwest Nigeria. These airstrikes, conducted under the guise of counter-terrorism, represent a dangerous escalation of American military imperialism on the African continent and a reckless disregard for African sovereignty.

What occurred is clear: the United States launched airstrikes in the northwest of Nigeria, particularly in Sokoto State, claiming to target militants linked to the Islamic State. Trump framed the attack using highly inflammatory and religiously charged language, alleging that Christians were being “viciously killed” and positioning the United States as a self-appointed saviour.

This narrative did not emerge in a vacuum. For weeks leading up to these strikes, Western political figures and media outlets have deliberately overhyped and distorted reports of violence in northern Nigeria, reducing a complex crisis rooted in poverty, state failure, land dispossession, and decades of instability into a simplistic and dangerous story of “Christian killings by Muslims.”

This framing is dishonest and it is deeply reckless. Violence in northern Nigeria has affected Christians, Muslims, and traditional communities alike, and has been driven by banditry, criminal networks, insurgent factions, and socio-economic collapse. By selectively amplifying a religious narrative, the United States manufactured moral justification for military intervention, turning Nigerian suffering into propaganda for imperial violence. This mirrors a familiar pattern: the deliberate isolation and branding of enemies as Muslim terrorists in order to strip entire regions of context, dehumanise local populations, and legitimise foreign bombs.

The invocation of “ISIL Islamic State” is particularly cynical, even the Western news reports are rarely referring to it as Nigeria and deliberately so. The United States has repeatedly used this label across the Middle East and Africa to justify its own terrorism leaving behind destroyed states, mass civilian casualties, and permanent instability. Now, that same script is being deployed in West Africa. Once a territory is branded “ISIL-linked,” it becomes open season for American missiles, drones, and airstrikes, with no meaningful accountability and no regard for long-term consequences.

Equally alarming is the response of the Nigerian state. Instead of asserting sovereignty and challenging this dangerous precedent, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a submissive press release praising “security cooperation” with the United States and describing the airstrikes as lawful and precise. This response does not reflect a confident or independent state but reflects a form of capitulation. It endorses the narrative imposed by the United States and signals to the world that African governments can be pressured, persuaded, or politically cornered into legitimising foreign military action on their own soil.

The EFF takes this opportunity to caution the government of Nigeria, which has either through desperation or ignorance allowed the United States to conduct military operations in their territory. We warn the government of Nigeria that the USA has no history of making any military, economic or diplomatic interventions in any nation which are mutually beneficial, rather it is always to further its own imperialist and selfish ends including but not limited to regime change and the theft of natural resources. In the instance of Nigeria, these interests are undoubtedly in relation to oil.

In Venezuela, the USA is involved in piracy by stealing Venezuelan oil while using the pretence of fighting against drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. Today in Nigeria, the USA is engaging in maximising oil extraction related interests under the guise of fighting terrorism and violence against religious groups.

This moment must be understood for what it is: a warning to the entire continent. Africa is in grave danger. The United States, led by the blood thirsty, war mongering Trump, has demonstrated that it is prepared, once again, to impose its military and imperialist strength wherever it sees fit, using fear, religious division, and the language of counterterrorism as cover. Trump’s administration has also been particularly aggressive towards South Africa as well and the EFF has consistently highlighted how this aggression is a basis for further attacks or sanctions.

It is our considered view that this bound to be yet another collapse of stability and peace at the behest of the fetish for war that overwhelms the United States of America. It is of interest to all of us as Africans to not allow Nigeria to be the gateway for USA imperialism in Africa, while the same nation accelerates its aggression against South Africa due to our solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The EFF stands firmly with the people of Nigeria, not with imperial forces and not with compliant elites. We call on African states, regional bodies such as ECOWAS and the African Union, and progressive movements to recognise this moment as a turning point and intervene in this situation. If Africa does not resist now, it will once again become a battlefield for foreign powers seeking relevance through destruction.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581