U.S. Airstrikes on Nigeria Expose Ongoing War on Black Nations

For Immediate Release

Center for Pan African Studies Condemns U.S. Christmas Attacks on Nigeria, Demands End to Wars on Black and Brown Nations

The Center for Pan African Studies issues the following statement condemning the recent American air attacks in Nigeria carried out over Christmas, and calling for an end to U.S. military aggression and exploitation in Africa and other communities of color worldwide.[1][2][3][4][5]

The Center for Pan African Studies forcefully condemns the deadly United States airstrikes conducted in northwest Nigeria over the Christmas period—attacks launched from a U.S. warship that fired multiple cruise missiles into Nigerian territory. These bombings, justified by Washington under the banner of counterterrorism and framed in explicitly religious terms, took place on one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar for millions of Nigerians and Africans across the continent and diaspora.[6][3][7][4][5]

The U.S. government claims these strikes targeted so-called Islamic State militants and were conducted “in coordination” with Nigerian authorities. Yet reports from affected communities raise serious questions about who was actually hit and whether civilian populations in places like Jabo village were placed in grave danger. Unilateral or grossly unequal “joint” operations of this kind echo a long and violent history in which powerful states project military force into African and other Global South nations, while local people pay the ultimate price in blood, displacement, and trauma.[8][3][4][9][10]

Solidarity with Christians in Gaza and Worldwide

The Center rejects the cynical use of Christian suffering as a pretext for war, even as Christian communities themselves continue to be killed and terrorized in other conflict zones, including Gaza, where U.S.-supplied weapons and diplomatic protection have enabled large-scale destruction and mass civilian casualties. It is a profound moral contradiction for U.S. leaders to invoke the language of defending Christians in Nigeria while supporting or enabling bombardments that kill Christians, Muslims, and others in Palestine, the Middle East, and beyond.[5][11][1]

Christians are dying in many parts of the world not because their lives are being protected by high-tech weapons, but because powerful governments continue to choose militarization, occupation, and economic domination over justice, equality, and genuine human security. True solidarity with persecuted or vulnerable Christian communities requires defending their right to live in peace wherever they are, rather than selectively using their pain to justify fresh military campaigns against non-Western nations.[11][1][5]

Stop U.S. Wars on Black and Brown Nations

The Center for Pan African Studies situates the Christmas attacks on Nigeria within a broader pattern of U.S. military and political intervention targeting Black and brown societies—from Africa to the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America. This pattern includes drone strikes, air campaigns, sanctions, covert operations, and proxy wars that undermine sovereignty, fuel instability, and open the door to deeper resource extraction and geopolitical control.[9][1][8][11]

Africa’s peoples have long resisted the militarization of the continent under various guises, including the expansion of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the normalization of foreign bases, “training missions,” and so-called precision strikes on African soil. These structures do not primarily serve African security or dignity; they entrench unequal power relations and expose ordinary communities to the violence of great-power competition and the global arms trade.[10][1][9]

End the Exploitation of African Lands and Peoples

The Center also denounces the ongoing economic and political exploitation that accompanies these military operations, including control over strategic minerals, oil, gas, and other natural resources critical to the global economy and emerging technologies. When bombs fall on African soil, they do so within an international order where African lives, labor, and lands have long been treated as expendable in service of external profit and power.[1][9][11]

From Nigeria’s oil-rich regions to mineral-rich zones across the continent, foreign intervention has historically combined military force, corporate penetration, and political pressure in ways that erode self-determination and deepen inequalities. The Christmas Eve and Christmas Day attacks on Nigeria must therefore be understood not as isolated “counterterror” incidents, but as part of a wider system that normalizes violence against Black and brown nations while extracting wealth from their territories.[3][9][10][11][1]

Our Demands

The Center for Pan African Studies calls for:

• An immediate halt to U.S. airstrikes and all offensive military operations in Nigeria and across Africa, including any further Christmas-time or symbolic attacks on African communities.[3][9][1]

• Full transparency and an independent investigation into the impact of the recent strikes in Nigeria, including any civilian casualties, displacement, and damage to local infrastructure or livelihoods.[4][10][1][3]

• An end to U.S. military, logistical, and diplomatic support for bombings and sieges that target or indiscriminately kill civilians in Gaza and other parts of the world.[5][11]

• A fundamental shift away from militarized foreign policy toward policies grounded in justice, reparations, demilitarization, and respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of African and other Global South nations.[9][11][1]

• The redirection of resources from war-making to investments in health, education, climate justice, and community-controlled development in Nigeria, across Africa, and in marginalized communities globally.[11][1][9]

The Center for Pan African Studies stands in unwavering solidarity with the people of Nigeria; with Christians and other faith communities under attack in Gaza and elsewhere; and with all Black and brown peoples resisting war, racism, and exploitation. There can be no lasting peace while powerful states reserve for themselves the right to bomb African nations at will and treat African lives as collateral damage in their geopolitical games.[4][10][1][3][5]

Sources / References

[1] Al Jazeera – US bombs target ISIL in Nigeria: What’s really going on?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/26/us-bombs-target-isil-in-nigeria-whats-really-going-on

[2] CNN – Trump says US military struck ISIS terrorists in Nigeria
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/25/politics/us-strikes-isis-nigeria

[3] Wikipedia – 2025 United States strikes in Nigeria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_strikes_in_Nigeria

[4] BBC Pidgin – US airstrikes in Nigeria: Wetin di US airstrike for Nigeria achieve?
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/cd74qjzew05o

[5] BBC News – US launches strikes against Islamic State in Nigeria
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj69j8l918do

[6] NPR – U.S. strikes ISIS in Nigeria
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/26/g-s1-103724/up-first-newsletter-nigeria-isis-congress-holiday-spending

[7] YouTube – Trump wishes dead terrorists “Merry X-Mas” as US pounds ISIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnrarI-3JAw

[8] Fakti.bg – For killings of Christians: Trump hits ISIS in Nigeria
https://fakti.bg/en/amp/world/1023673-for-killings-of-christians-trump-hits-isis-in-nigeria

[9] Reuters – Nigeria averts unilateral US action by cooperating on airstrike
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigeria-averts-unilateral-us-action-by-cooperating-airstrikes-2025-12-26/

[10] Al Jazeera Live – Nigeria confirms joint US strikes on ISIL targets
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/12/26/live-nigeria-confirms-joint-us-strikes-on-isil-targets-in-its-north-west

[11] Associated Press – US strikes on Ras Isa oil port kill 74, Houthi rebels say
https://apnews.com/article/yemen-us-airstrikes-563f61bbd96e1f2de68373fdf76c8811