Nigerian military has dismissed claims by a senior United States official that American forces seized a large cache of electronic materials from terrorists in Nigeria during an operation.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Samaila Uba, said the materials referenced by the U.S. official were declassified intelligence obtained from previous counter-terrorism operations conducted by the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Uba explained that the materials were voluntarily provided to the United States as part of ongoing security cooperation between both countries.
“The materials were given to the US,” Uba said, stressing that the intelligence was not captured by American forces but released by the Nigerian government under an existing counter-terrorism partnership.
He added that the exchange was part of longstanding collaboration between Nigeria and the United States in tackling terrorism and other security threats.
The clarification followed comments by Sebastian Gorka, the U.S. Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, who claimed that American operators recovered a significant volume of electronic intelligence during a mission in Nigeria.
Gorka had said U.S. forces killed 199 jihadists during the operation and recovered what he described as the largest volume of enemy electronic intelligence since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“I watched our operators kill 199 jihadis in one operation and seize an unprecedented volume of intelligence materials,” Gorka was quoted as saying.
Responding to the claim, Uba said the intelligence-sharing arrangement should not be interpreted as an independent operation by American forces to seize materials from terrorists in Nigeria.
“It is not a new operation. We have previously communicated our highly successful joint operations in May. Nigeria-US joint operations and collaboration are very much on course,” he said.
The Defence spokesperson reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening international partnerships aimed at combating terrorism and improving security in the country.
