Trump’s Neocolonial ‘Slam’ on Nigeria.Part III – US-Nigeria: from the blackmailing policy to air strikes

Having received the unflattering critique of Trump’s statement regarding Nigeria both within the US and abroad, with this negative assessment pointing at the lack of American understanding of the processes unfolding in Nigeria, Washington has apparently decided to ease the intensity of the diplomatic tension, arisen between the countries.

As a result of their visit to Abuja, according to the Nigerian Punch, the American congressman underlined, “We did have positive conversations with the Nigerian government, and I believe we are close to a strategic security framework to address both the ISIS and Boko Haram (recognised as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation) threat in the Northeast, as well as the genocide against Christians by the radical Fulani Muslims in the Middle Belt.”

It would be reasonable to recall that during the negotiations in Washington last November between the Nigerian delegation led by Presidential Adviser on National Security Nuhu Ribadu and US Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth, when talking through issues of security cooperation, the Nigerians ended up under significant pressure from Washington. The negotiations, nevertheless, did not produce the result expected by both sides. Nigerian Politics assumes that such an outcome could be put down to Abuja’s unwillingness to allow the creation of an American military base on its territory.

Presenting its own conditions when providing assistance to African countries has already become a political habit for the United States in its relations with potential partners. For instance, on 4 December 2025, Washington hosted the signing ceremony of the peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, designed to put an end to the conflict in the East of the DRC. This particular document, providing for creating joint ventures for the extraction of minerals and localising a number of industries related to processing critically important minerals and rare earth metals, entitles American companies to the priority right to invest in these projects.

The scale of the concessions Nigeria could resort to in favour of the US on the issue remains the subject of........

© New Eastern Outlook