The Presidency on Wednesday said United States President Donald Trump has written personally to President Bola Tinubu to commend what he termed his “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people.”
The US President also confirmed that he deployed US Special Operations Forces, including Navy SEAL Team 6, to train Nigeria’s military in the fight against terrorists.
According to a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Trump disclosed in the letter that he had deployed US Special Operations Forces, including Navy SEAL Team 6, to train and support Nigeria’s military in the fight against terrorism.
He described the bilateral security partnership as historic.
The letter, dated July 6, 2026, publicly reveals for the first time Trump’s direct attribution of the deepening US military presence in Nigeria to what he described last October as the need to protect communities of faith, particularly Christian minorities, from jihadist violence.
In the letter, Trump wrote to Tinubu, “Dear Mr President, Thank you for your thoughtful letter. Your kind words mean a great deal to me, and I appreciate your decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people.
“I applaud your resolve to tackle the issues plaguing your nation, especially the violence affecting Christian communities, and it is a true honour to stand with you in the fight against terrorists and to make the Federal Republic of Nigeria stronger and more prosperous.
“The United States-Nigeria relationship is crucial at a time when conflict has spread across West Africa and around the world.
“We both share a mutual goal of confronting terrorism in all its forms, and our historic US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap has established a robust framework to accomplish this feat.
“I am proud to have deployed the United States Special Operations Forces, among the most elite military units anywhere in the world, to equip the brave men and women in the Armed Forces of Nigeria with the skills, tools and intelligence they need to protect your homeland and ensure the safety and security of citizens, particularly those of faith who have been under attack. I look forward to our continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.”
The letter referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap, which Trump described as having “established a robust framework” for the two countries’ counterterrorism collaboration.
The roadmap, formalised in 2026, was built on a Joint Working Group established by the two governments in November 2025, co-headed by the National Security Advisers of Nigeria and the United States.
The JWG subsequently agreed on joint training, intelligence sharing, and coordinated military operations.
On May 16, 2026, a joint operation in the Lake Chad Basin killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the ISWAP second-in-command, alongside approximately 40 of his lieutenants in a nearly three-hour assault at Metele, Borno State.
The operation involved a helicopter-borne assault by a commando from the Nigerian Army and US Navy SEAL Team 6, according to a military source cited by The New York Times.
On May 19, the Defence Headquarters confirmed that approximately 175 ISWAP and Boko Haram militants had been killed since joint operations began.
Onanuga noted that last week, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Frank Garcia, visited Abuja, holding meetings with senior Nigerian government officials and pledging to further strengthen US-Nigeria cooperation across security and other areas of collaboration.
The Christmas 2025 US airstrikes in the northwest targeted Lakurawa camps in Sokoto State.
Prior American support had been limited to sanctions, intelligence sharing, and capacity building.
Nigeria’s decade-long insurgency, which began with Boko Haram’s formal declaration of a caliphate in 2014 and deepened following the emergence of ISWAP as a splinter group in 2016, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.
President Bola Tinubu declared a national security emergency in November 2025 amid escalating violence across several states.
The declaration followed US President Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” on October 31, 2025, over what he described as the killing and persecution of Christians in the country.
The Federal Government has since rejected the claim of Christian persecution, saying that both Muslims and Christians have been affected by attacks carried out by Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province militants and bandits
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