Nigeria Rejects US Claim On Materials Taken From Terrorists

Nigeria’s defence authorities have rejected a United States official’s claim that American forces seized a large cache of electronic materials from terrorists during an operation in Nigeria.

The Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Samalia Uba, said the materials were not captured by US forces. He said they were declassified intelligence materials from earlier Nigerian military counterterrorism operations and were voluntarily given to the United States under existing security cooperation.

Premium Times reported that Uba’s explanation was Nigeria’s first official response since Sebastian Gorka, a senior counterterrorism official in the White House, said US soldiers recovered the materials during an operation in which 199 jihadists were killed.

Daily Post also reported the military’s denial, saying Uba maintained that the intelligence was released by Nigeria and not seized by American forces.

The disagreement is important because both sides are describing the same material in different terms. The US account presents it as a battlefield seizure by American operators, while Nigeria says it was a handover under a security partnership.

Sources: Premium Times, Daily Post