A joint US–Nigerian operation eliminated an Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) field commander in Borno state on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump confirmed in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, the most overt American kinetic involvement in Nigeria since the 2017 Tongo Tongo ambush prompted a Pentagon review.
President Bola Tinubu, in a brief statement from Aso Rock, confirmed the operation and thanked the United States for "decisive partnership" against jihadist groups in the Lake Chad basin. Neither government named the commander publicly, but Nigerian security sources identified the target as Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari, a former Boko Haram financial operative who defected to ISWAP in 2022.
The strike comes against a backdrop of mounting public anger over a separate incident: the abduction and execution of mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun, taken by bandits from Community High School in Oriire local government area of Oyo state on Friday and confirmed dead on Tuesday. A senior human-rights lawyer publicly called for Mr Tinubu to either deliver substantive results on insecurity or resign — a demand that has gained traction on Nigerian social media.
Banditry, distinct from ISWAP's territorial insurgency in the northeast, has displaced an estimated two million people across the northwest and middle belt over the past five years, and the Nigerian armed forces have struggled to suppress it. School abductions, in particular, have continued at a high rate despite repeated security drives.
Mr Tinubu's government presented a record ₦58.18 trillion 2026 federal budget last month, including ₦5.41 trillion for defence and security, the largest such allocation in the country's history. The administration has also accelerated procurement of Turkish-built Bayraktar TB2 drones and Chinese Wing Loong II systems, both of which featured in the Tuesday strike.