US Sends Military Officers to Nigeria After Renewed Attacks

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: News websites

4 Feb 2026 09:21

A small US military team has been sent to Nigeria following renewed armed attacks and growing ties between Washington and Abuja.

The US has deployed a small team of military officers to Nigeria, as confirmed by General Dagvin R.M. Anderson, the head of US Africa Command, during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Anderson explained that the deployment followed his meeting with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in Rome late last year.

“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small US team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” Anderson said.

The timeline of the team’s arrival in Nigeria has not been disclosed.

This development marks the latest stage in Washington’s military involvement in Nigeria, following US airstrikes on a group linked to ISIS on December 25 of last year.

These US airstrikes included the rural Jabo village in the northwestern Tambuwal district, where debris from the US operation landed meters away from the community's only medical facility, leaving residents confused as to why their farming community was affected.

Trump-era tensions and Nigeria’s response

Nigeria has come under scrutiny during the Trump administration, as US President Donald Trump accused the West African country of failing to protect Christian citizens and threatened military action. This led to Nigeria’s designation as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a US congressional label for countries involved in religious persecution.

The Nigerian government firmly denied claims of Christian genocide, emphasizing that armed groups target people irrespective of religious identity.

The recent deployment reflects a broader trend of expanding US presence in Africa. Washington has supplied Nigeria with military equipment and conducted reconnaissance missions over Nigerian territory. While the precise terms of the current cooperation remain unclear, officials have indicated a deepening security partnership between the two nations.