Postcard from Abuja
THIS is not how things were meant to go. Back in November, the US president declared Nigeria to be a “disgraced country” that did little to stop the genocide of Christians. He ordered the Pentagon to prepare to intervene.
But when US and Nigerian officials announced cruise missile strikes on 25 December against what local intelligence identified as Islamist camps that had been terrorising Muslim communities in Sokoto state, they noted the operation had been co-ordinated by military and security agencies from both countries after weeks of preparation – and had been given the green light by Donald Trump and his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu.