Dele Farotimi, a human rights lawyer and social commentator, has sharply denounced recent reports of US military attacks on ISIS-linked targets in Nigeria, calling the move a breach of the country’s sovereignty and a sign of government failure.
Farotimi expressed his thoughts in a Facebook post in response to news of US cooperation in military operations against terrorist elements in Nigeria’s northwestern region.
According to him, Nigeria’s sovereignty has been repeatedly undermined by its own leaders, whom he accused of lacking the will and authority to independently safeguard the nation’s territorial integrity.
Drawing parallels with past regional interventions, Farotimi recalled an earlier incident in which France, under President Emmanuel Macron, allegedly influenced Nigeria to conduct military action in neighbouring Benin Republic.
“Macron sent a now-disgraced Nigeria to bomb coupists in sovereign Benin,” he wrote, alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT), acting without legislative backing, subordinated Nigeria’s sovereignty to foreign interests.
Farotimi argued that the reported U.S. strikes under President Donald Trump represent a continuation of this trend, asserting that Trump is “peeing over Nigeria’s sovereignty,” while benefiting from what he described as the complicity of Nigeria’s ruling elite.
He suggested that foreign powers are emboldened to act unilaterally because Nigeria’s leadership has failed to assert national independence or demand accountability in matters of security and foreign military involvement.
