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We recovered intelligence materials from terrorists but handed them over to US forces,” Nigerian military rebuts US official’s claim
The Nigerian military has dismissed claims by a senior United States official that American forces seized a large cache of electronic intelligence materials from terrorists during an operation in Nigeria and flew them out of the country.
Reacting to the claim, the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Samalia Uba, said the materials were not recovered by US forces during any operation but were voluntarily shared by the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) as part of existing counter-terrorism cooperation between both countries.
According to Uba, the intelligence comprised declassified materials from previous Nigerian counter-terrorism operations and was released under an established security partnership with the United States.
“The materials were given to the US,” Uba said, stressing that the intelligence exchange was part of the longstanding security collaboration between both nations.
He explained that the development should not be interpreted as American forces independently recovering intelligence materials from terrorists on Nigerian soil.
The clarification is the first official response by Nigerian authorities following remarks by the US Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka.
Gorka had claimed that US operators killed 199 jihadists during an operation in Nigeria and recovered what he described as the largest cache of enemy electronic intelligence since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“I watched our operators kill 199 jihadis in one operation and seize an unprecedented volume of intelligence materials,” Gorka said.
Responding, Brigadier General Uba maintained that the intelligence-sharing arrangement was not linked to any new operation.
“It is not a new operation. We have previously communicated our highly successful joint operations in May. Nigeria-US joint operations and collaboration are very much on course,” he added.
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