By Sanusi Moyi, MPhil-dcp, fspsp (AML/CFT/PF Specialist)
In this article, it is argued that the recent U.S. military action in Sokoto State, Nigeria—reportedly targeting ISIS as claimed by U.S. President Donald Trump—has been strongly questioned by local security experts and residents. Their core argument is that the operation is geographically and factually misplaced, as Sokoto and the broader Northwest region are not known hubs for ISIS, its affiliate ISWAP, or the original Boko Haram faction (JAS). These groups’ strongholds are firmly in the Northeast (like the Lake Chad islands) and parts of North-Central Nigeria.
The critics assert the true drivers of local violence (in the northwest), particularly in Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina, are criminal banditry and resource conflicts, not international jihadism, and that narratives of a religious “genocide” are demographically illogical; in fact, the narrative is just rhetoric. Violence in Nigeria, whether by the so-called Jihadists or economic opportunists, affects all and sundry Muslims and Non-Muslims. They interpret the strike not as genuine counter-terrorism but as a pretext for broader strategic aims, consistent with a historical pattern of U.S. interventions that prioritize resource access and geopolitical influence over stated humanitarian goals, citing examples in Venezuela, Libya, and Iraq.
The article concludes by condemning the action as a violation of sovereignty and linking it to a broader critique of U.S. unilateralism, suggesting the world is now shifting toward a multipolar system with China, Russia and BRICs coming on board to at least lessen US influence and dominance in global affairs.
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Sanusi Moyi is Head, Violent Crimes Department, Intelligence and Security Services Support, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit
