By Nnamdi Ojiego
Former Minister of Aviation and ambassador-designate, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted a report attributed to The New York Times which alleged that unverified claims by an Onitsha-based screwdriver trader influenced the first United States airstrikes carried out in Nigeria.
Reacting via his X handle, @realFFK, Fani-Kayode described the report as “fake news” and “nothing but a hefty load of disingenuous and infantile hogwash.”
He further described the report as misleading and insulting to both Nigeria and the United States, insisting that the operation was based on intelligence supplied by Nigerian security agencies.
“Anyone that honestly believes that the U.S. Government based its intelligence to bomb parts of Sokoto State on the intel supplied by an Onitsha-based screwdriver-seller who used Google Map to source his information and not on the intel supplied by the Nigerian intelligence services must have a low IQ, low self-esteem and a low intelligence quotient. I respectfully urge such a person to get sense”, he wrote.
Fani-Kayode accused the newspaper of deliberately pushing what he called a false narrative to undermine the credibility of the two governments.
“The false and mischievous narrative which has been purposely put out by the New York Times to belittle, demean, embarrass and debase both the Nigerian and the U.S. Governments and their intelligence-gathering capabilities is puerile and childish,” he said.
He argued that no sovereign nation would allow its territory to be bombed on the basis of claims from a private individual, nor would the United States take such a decision without credible intelligence from official channels.
“No country will allow its country to be bombed in the name of fighting ISIS or anyone else on the words of an Onitsha utensils trader and neither would the Americans take such a precipitous and consequential course of action on the words of such an individual. Things just don’t work that way”, he added.
The former minister said Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, had already clarified that the airstrikes were carried out in collaboration with Nigerian authorities.
“The Nigerian Foreign Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has made it clear that the Americans took the action in collaboration with our Armed Forces and Intelligence agencies and that the intel they used to do so was given to them by our Government,” Fani-Kayode stated.
He further claimed to have spoken directly with the foreign minister shortly after the bombing.
“I spoke with him exactly ten minutes after the bombing took place and he not only assured me of this but also provided me with details of the build-up to the event,” he said.
The New York Times investigation had alleged that information produced by Emeka Umeagbalasi, founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, influenced US lawmakers and shaped narratives about violence against Christians in Nigeria. Umeagbalasi reportedly admitted that much of his data was drawn from secondary sources and was often not verified, a claim that has drawn criticism from analysts, researchers and Nigerian officials.
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