The Nigerian military has firmly dismissed claims made by a senior United States official that a 'large haul' of electronic materials were seized from terrorists in Nigeria and flown out of the country by US forces. In an official rebuttal, the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen Samalia Uba, clarified that the materials contained declassified information from previous counter-terrorism operations conducted by the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Cooperation, Not Seizure
Uba stated that the intelligence materials were voluntarily provided to the United States as part of ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation between both countries. He emphasized that the intelligence was not captured by American forces but was released by the Nigerian government under an existing security collaboration.
'The materials were given to the US,' Uba said, adding that the development formed part of the longstanding security partnership between Nigeria and the United States. This clarification marks the first official response from the Nigerian authorities since the claim was made by the US.
US Official's Controversial Statement
The controversy erupted after comments by the US Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka. Gorka claimed that American forces recovered a massive cache of electronic materials during an operation in Nigeria, killing 199 jihadists and recovering what he described as the largest volume of enemy electronic intelligence since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
'I watched our operators kill 199 jihadis in one operation and seize an unprecedented volume of intelligence materials,' Gorka said.
Nigeria's Response
Responding to the US claims, Uba said the intelligence exchange should not be interpreted as American forces independently seizing materials from terrorists in Nigeria. 'It is not a new operation. We have previously communicated our highly successful joint operations in May. Nigeria-US joint operations and collaboration are very much on course,' he said.
