Airstrike: Why US chose Sokoto as first target in Nigeria

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An international human rights lawyer and bilateral affairs expert, Emmanuel Ogebe has explained why the US military chose Sokoto as its first target in an airstrike.

According to News Express, Ogebe stated that the location of the attacks appeared to reflect strategic familiarity rather than the severity of the violence.

He claimed Sokoto had previously been the location of a US military action during former President Donald Trump’s first term, when American special troops rescued US citizen Philip Walton from kidnappers in 2020, killing six terrorists in the process.

The international human rights lawyer regarded Sokoto as an unexpected location for an opening strike, considering that it was not the epicenter of global jihadist activity in Nigeria’s North-East, where a deadly suicide bombing was just recorded in Borno State.

“The North-West appears to be a safer operational bet for the US, given prior boots-on-ground experience and institutional memory from earlier missions,” Ogebe said.

According to him, the proximity to the Niger Republic, where the US had military outposts until recently, may have affected the choice, as American personnel are more familiar with the geography and intelligence architecture in the area.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has maintained that the operation was carried out together with the United States and other allies.

Ogebe deemed this report plausible, noting lessons from the 2020 Walton rescue effort, which nearly failed due to a lack of verifiable Nigerian airspace clearance.

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