• US President Trump and Nigeria’s President Tinubu both want to stop extremist groups in Nigeria.
• The United States carried out military strikes in Northern Nigeria to assist in eliminating violent jihadist groups that Trump claims are persecuting Christians. 
• Tinubu is trying to stay on Trump’s good side while maintaining Nigerian sovereignty and independence.

Why are Trump and Tinubu Frenemies?

Answer: Trump and Tinubu share the goal of stopping jihadist extremists in Nigeria, albeit for different reasons.

On Christmas Day 2025, the United States carried out a military strike in northern Nigeria. The attack was executed by a dozen Tomahawk missiles aiming for the Lakurawa extremist group in the Northwest of the country. The strike hit various locations in the Sokoto state with varying levels of success — Tangaza facing the most losses of Lakurawa fighters.

Prior to this US President Donald Trump had given little attention to African states, most notably shifting foreign policy focus in the continent from aid to trade. But, at the end of 2025, relations between Nigeria and the US became increasingly strained with the US declaring Nigeria a “Country of  Particular Concern” (CPC).

Nigeria has long faced economic and security troubles which president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed to address. Tinubu has been in politics for over three decades and in 2013 he helped form the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party.  Since its creation the party has focused on improving security, especially in the north.

The APC has been in power since 2015, originally led by Muhammadu Buhariwith large support from Tinubu. During Tinubu’s election campaign, in 2023 under the APC, he promised to improve Nigeria’s economy and security; however the country has seen little progress in the past three years, let alone the past 10 in which the APC has been in power. As a result his popularity has been decreasing and insecurity levels rising.

The causes for economic hardship and insecurity in Nigeria are complex but ultimately underlined by weak statehood. The combination of corruption and lack of state presence in rural, mostly northern, parts of the country created a power vacuum. As a result, violent jihadist groups have taken the opportunity to fill the void — offering protection and stability conditional on one’s adherence to their extremist muslim views.

There are many such groups in Nigeria, and not all are affiliated with larger jihadist groups like Al Qaeda and Islamic State. The Northwest, where the US military strikes took place, is home to Lakurawa; an emergent jihadist group that combines religious extremism with organised crime. Furthermore these groups are resilient to many counter-insurgencies operations as their members increase and technologies improve. 

What does Trump want?

Answer: Trump wants to be seen as the bringer of world peace and keep China’s influence at bay.

The narrative Trump has promoted reveals his motivations for US involvement in Nigeria’s security crisis. In the past year, Trump has continuously expressed his desire to be recognised as a peace bringer — his frustrations over not winning the Nobel Peace Prize being the most obvious example of this — and now Nigeria has been added to his list.

Keeping with the American tradition, Trump views the situation in Nigeria as part of the war on terror — fueled significantly by a domestic push. After lobbying by Christian activists in the United States, Trump reinstated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) in November 2025, after it was removed by Biden in 2021. The white Christian nationalist movement fueling Trump, has spread to Trump’s foreign policy prior to Nigeria when the President made claims about the alleged persecution of white South Africans to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a state visit in 2025. Evidently, Trump’s actions domestically and internationally, are significantly guided by his racial and religious biases. 

On the other hand, concerns over Chinese influence in Africa have also motivated Trump’s actions. China has long been investing in the continent, exploiting critical minerals and strengthening their influence; Nigeria, rich in lithium , oil and gold, has strong relations with China. As securing critical minerals is a key tenet of Trump’s America First philosophy, naturally his interest in Nigeria increased. 

What does Tinubu want?

Answer: Tinubu desires to stay in power and assert his position as the capable protector of Nigeria in the face of foreign intervention.

Since becoming president in 2023 Tinubu has tried to improve the security crisis in Nigeria by implementing different counter-insurgency operations such as forest guards. These changes, aimed to portray Tinubu as a proactive, protective leader, failed to improve the security crisis and had the reverse impact on his image. 

Working with Trump is undermining Tinubu’s image; Trump’s domination of the narrative and military intervention challenges Tinubu’s role as protector of Nigeria.  Yet, Tinubu wants to keep Trump on his side, not only to avoid the potential consequences of being a CPC but also to have access to better military technology. One of the major consequences of being a CPC is the imposition of sanctions which when combined with the suspension of USAID at the end of 2025 and Nigeria’s poor economy poses a significant risk to the country especially regarding healthcare and food security. 

At the same time Tinubu is trying to assert Nigeria’s sovereignty in the face of foreign intervention. Like many other countries that became independent in the middle of the 20th century, sovereignty is of great importance to Nigerians. Tinubu does not want to be seen as ceding sovereignty to a foreign power, even if it is for security.

What is Trump  doing?

Answer: Trump is changing the narrative towards a simplistic religious conflict.

Since declaring Nigeria as a CPC Trump has been controlling the narrative: simplifying the security crisis and claiming success for the Christmas day strikes. He has been painting a simplistic depiction of the Nigerian security crisis along religious lines. The CPCtitle is used for countries in which citizens’ religious freedoms are being violated — in this case Trump is claiming that radical extremist groups, like the ones mentioned above, are persecuting and killing Christians.

Yet there is a lack of reliable data to suggest that jihadist groups executereligiously motivated attacks; despite anti-Chrsitian rhetoric the violence impacts civilians of all religions. More recently, jihadist groups have turned to kidnappings to extort the government rather than using religiously motivated killings.

The Christmas day strikes, which hit Sokoto, is home of to Lakurawa group who have no confirmed ties to the Islamic State (IS). IS-WAP in the Northeast, the most prominent IS group in the country, was completely unaffected by the strikes. Nevertheless Trump has sold this strike as a victory threatening more if the situation does not improve in Nigeria. Trump’s second term in office has been defined by a number of short but complex military raids in Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela, designed to maximise impact and avoid boots on the ground.

This shock and awe approach showcases the President’s desire for publicity stunts to boost his image in the short term irrespective of long term results. His decision to delay the strikes until Christmas day as “a Christmas present” further underscores this. 

What is Tinubu doing?

Answer: Tinubu is trying to save face by  collaborating with the USA to eliminate extremist groups in Nigeria.

Since the strikes, Tinubu has been walking a fine line between domestic pressures and staying on Trump’s good side. Tinubu must balance his role as leader of a religiously diverse country while not distancing himself from Trump and his ethno-christian guided foreign policy. Nigeria has almost equal numbers of Muslims and Christians making Trump’s claims of “Christian genocide” incendiary in an already tense country. As the first president to pick a running mate of the same religion — both are Muslim— Tinubu’s presidency breaks Nigerian tradition. To counteract the negative perceptions Trump has of Tinubu’s  faith he is leveraging his inter-faith marriage to a Christian Pastor — Oluremi Tinubu. 

To maintain some level of positive domestic support Tinubu and his government contested Trump’s claims saying jihadists did not attack communities based on religion. Yet, more recently, to maintain positive relations with the United States Tinubu stopped correcting Trump’s simplistic understanding. In January 2026 the Nigerian foreign minister pivoted away from correcting the narrative to focus on results instead and the APC has remained silent on the issue since. This is not doing Tinubu any favours domestically, as recently the Nigerian Supreme Court for Islamic Affairs has accused this narrative of erasing Muslim victims and supporting American imperial control. 

By maintaining positive relations with Trump, Tinubu has access to improved American resources to combat jihadist groups — something his own counter-insurgency operations lacked. As of February 2026 the US has deployed 100 military personnel under Nigerian command to assist with technical support and intelligence. To Tinubu, Trump’s power, influence and resources are of better use to Nigeria if he and Trump are on the same side.

Who is winning?

Answer:Trump is dominating the story and providing Tinubu with the means to achieve their goal of eliminating extremist groups.

In short, Trump is taking the lead, dominating the story and commanding the action, but Tinubu is being advantaged as well. While Tinubu approved the strike it is clear Trump had the final say. Additionally, Tinibu’s unwillingness to challenge Trump and his “christian genocide” narrative portrays Nigeria as merely following the US’ lead to solve its security problems. For the moment their shared goal to eliminate jihadist groups allows Tinubu to take a back seat; however, concerns over Nigerian sovereignty and religious tensions will force Tinubu to act if he wishes to stay in power and keep his image intact.