On 25 December 2025, Donald Trump, America’s president, bombed alleged ISIS camps in the environs of the city of Sokoto in Nigeria ostensibly to prevent Muslims committing genocide against Nigerian Christians. In the event, 16 precision munitions were fired at Sokoto from American naval ships on the Gulf of Guinea, at a cost of about 3 million dollars.
Sokoto is located on Nigeria’s border with the West African republics of Benin and Niger. Sokoto is the ‘Seat of the Caliphate’, thus historically a most important city in Nigeria. It is the spiritual home of Northern Nigerian Muslims. The Sultan is the supreme spiritual leader of the Muslims. Less than 5% of the Sokoto population are Christians.
Ever since the Sokoto bombing, Trump, America’s Evangelicals, and Nigerian Christians have taken to victory laps claiming that local ISIS camps had been destroyed with scores of terrorists killed. But with Trump, nothing is ever what it seemed. The chances are that both Trump and Nigerian leaders are overegging it. A couple of days after the Sokoto bombing Nigeria’s President Tinubu goes on holidays.
There are over 200 million mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria. Any significant happenings, even in the remotest of locations, are instantly recorded and transmitted on social media including YouTube and Facetime. Videos and images from the immediate aftermath of the Sokoto bombing have been published on worldwide media networks including Aljazeera, BBC and CNN. They show bomb debris and scorched fields. That is it. Also, the locals insist there were no casualties, and no ISIS camps. That low level of physical damage accords with sparsity of population in that area.
The real damage is to Nigeria’s reputation from which the country is not likely ever to recover. Trump’s Sokoto bombing exposed the real Nigeria.
1. Nigeria has no nationalists. Postings on social media reveal widespread lack of loyalty, or devotion, or unifying ideology, and the absence of a strong bond between people and country. Nigeria had no defenders amongst its citizens. Most Nigerians dream of escaping the country.
2. Nigeria’s sovereignty is a sham. The bombing of Sokoto exploded the myth of Nigeria as an independent sovereign state. Nigeria’s leaders very easily capitulated turning Nigeria into an American asset. Nigeria’s citizens with their learnt helplessness eagerly served up their country to America.
3. Nigeria’s enormous size is no comfort. The belief that Nigeria had clout because it was the largest country in Africa was shown to be entirely illusory. Indeed, Nigeria has no more clout than the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu, the smallest UN member state. Trump through the Sokoto bombing was telling Africa that Nigeria is not a giant of anything.
Trump’s bombing of Sokoto is a game changer. It cannot be business as usual for Nigeria. The 1999 constitution explicitly stated that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’. President Tinubu’s government failed in that duty when it ceded sovereignty to Trump. The honourable thing for President Tinubu now to do is declare a state of emergency under Section 305 of the 1999 constitution. He should then suspend his government and the National Assembly whilst simultaneously instructing INEC immediately to conduct a referendum on the future of Nigeria as provided for under Section 14(2)(a) of the constitution, which states that ‘sovereignty belonged to the people’.