Paul Ibe, media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, launched a scathing attack on President Bola Tinubu’s administration following a New York Times report on recent United States airstrikes in Sokoto State.
The American newspaper alleged that intelligence leading to the strike originated from a screwdriver salesman in Onitsha which sparked widespread debate about Nigeria’s intelligence credibility.
Reacting on X, Ibe described the situation as evidence of “deep dysfunction” within the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
He argued that the report underscores how poorly Nigeria’s intelligence framework is being managed under the current administration.
“If we are to believe the @nytimes report that a screwdriver salesman in Onitsha provided the intelligence that was used in the US military strike on a terrorists’ camp in Sokoto, it underscores how screwed up the Tinubu-led APC administration is,” Ibe wrote.
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The Federal Government had earlier insisted, and U.S. authorities confirmed, that Nigeria provided the intelligence for the operation. But Ibe questioned the credibility of that process, suggesting that Tinubu’s reported $9 million lobbying contract with a U.S. firm may already be producing negative consequences.
“Are we to believe that Tinubu’s $9 million contract with a US lobby firm is already at work screwing things up?” he added.
The controversy comes at a time when Nigeria is grappling with escalating insecurity in the northwest, where terrorist groups and bandits continue to destabilize communities. The Sokoto airstrikes were part of broader U.S. counterterrorism efforts in West Africa, but the New York Times report has raised questions about the reliability of intelligence sources feeding into such operations.
Tinubu’s administration has faced criticism over its foreign lobbying deals, particularly the multimillion-dollar contract with a U.S. firm aimed at improving Nigeria’s image abroad. Opposition figures argue that such deals risk undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty and may distort the country’s security priorities.
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