The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has backed First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s call for increased United States airstrikes targeting terrorist groups in northern Nigeria, describing her position as “logically sound” and widely supported by Nigerians.
Mrs. Tinubu made the remarks during a week-long visit to Washington, D.C., where she granted an interview to Fox News Digital. Speaking on America’s recent military action against Islamist militants in northwest Nigeria, she described the intervention as a “blessing” and signaled Nigeria’s openness to deeper security collaboration with the United States.
“America’s Christmas Day strike on Islamist militants in northwest Nigeria was a ‘blessing,’” Tinubu said, adding that her husband’s administration welcomes further U.S. involvement as it confronts insurgents and criminal gangs.
“The intervention of the U.S. was quite a welcome development,” she told Fox News Digital. “Nigeria is looking forward to collaboration” with the U.S. on security issues. “We are expecting that there will be more.”
Reacting in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA argued that sustained follow-up strikes by the United States could significantly degrade terrorist infrastructure and operational capacity in Nigeria.
The pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group said the scale of civilian casualties attributed to terrorist activities necessitates decisive international support. According to HURIWA, only coordinated and continued airstrikes targeting terrorist camps would deliver the level of disruption required to weaken extremist networks operating in the region.
The group cited data from the 2025 Global Terrorism Index to underscore the severity of the security situation. Nigeria ranked sixth in the 2025 index with a score of 7.658, rising from eighth position in 2023 and 2024. The report, released on March 5, recorded 565 terrorism-related deaths in Nigeria in 2024, marking an increase over the previous two years.
The report noted that terrorism-related deaths in Nigeria peaked at 2,101 in 2014 before declining to 392 in 2022 — the lowest level since 2011. However, fatalities rose by 34 percent in 2023 to 533 and further increased to 565 in 2024.
It also highlighted the growing influence of IS-Sahel, which has expanded beyond its core operational base in the Liptako-Gourma region spanning Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. In 2024 alone, the group carried out 16 attacks in Nigeria, 12 in Niger, six in Mali, and one in Burkina Faso.
Based on these statistics, HURIWA called on the U.S. president to authorize additional airstrikes targeting terrorist groups in Nigeria, arguing that intensified international cooperation is essential to curb the escalating threat posed by insurgents and extremist factions in the country’s northern region.
