‘It Was Not Based On Onitsha Screwdriver Seller Intel’ -FFK Denies NYT Claim on U.S. Airstrikes in Sokoto

• Femi Fani-Kayode has rejected a New York Times report claiming U.S. airstrikes in Sokoto were based on civilian intelligence, insisting the operation was conducted through official U.S.–Nigeria security collaboration.
• He referenced Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, who had earlier clarified that the strike was carried out in coordination with Nigeria’s Armed Forces and intelligence services.

Ambassador-designate Femi Fani-Kayode has dismissed as false a report by The New York Times claiming that recent U.S. airstrikes in parts of Sokoto State were carried out based on intelligence from a civilian source.

In a post on X, Fani-Kayode described the report as implausible, arguing that the U.S. military would not rely on information from a private individual using online mapping tools to conduct a strike.

He stated that such an operation could only have been executed through formal intelligence cooperation between U.S. and Nigerian security agencies.

Fani-Kayode accused the newspaper of publishing a misleading and damaging account aimed at undermining the credibility of both governments.

He referenced Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, who had earlier clarified that the strike was carried out in coordination with Nigeria’s Armed Forces and intelligence services.

According to Fani-Kayode, he personally spoke with the minister after the incident, during which Tuggar confirmed that the intelligence used came from Nigerian authorities.

He wrote: “Anyone that honestly believes that the U.S. Government based its intelligence to bomb parts of Sokoto State on the intel supplied by an Onitsha-based screwdriver-seller who used Google map to source his information and not on the intel supplied by the Nigerian intelligence services must have a low IQ, low self-esteem and a low intelligence quotient. I respectfully urge such a person to get sense.

“The false and mischevous narrative which has been purposely put out by the New York Times to belittle, demean, embarrass and debase both the Nigerian and the U.S. Governments and their intelligence-gathering capabilities is puerile and childish. No country will allow its country to be bombed in the name of fighting ISIS or anyone else on the words of an Onitsha utensils trader and neither would the Americans take such a precipitous and consequential course of action on the words of such an individual.

“Things just dont work that way. The Nigerian Foreign Minister @YusufTuggar has made it clear that the Americans took the action in collaboration with our Armed Forces and Intelligence agencies and that the intel they used to do so was given to them by our Government.

“I spoke with him exactly ten minutes after the bombing took place and he not only assured me of this but also provided me with details of the build-up to the event. The New York Times story can best be described as not only fake news but also nothing but a hefty load of disingenuous and infantile hogwash and the paper is best flushed down the toilet. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”