Activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has criticised the Federal Government over the United States (US) airstrikes targeting terrorists in Nigeria, saying the development exposed what he called as weak and ineffective leadership.

Sowore, in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday, reacted to reports that the US military has launched airstrikes against terrorist targets on Christmas Day, an operation announced by President Donald Trump and the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

Tribune Online reports that Trump, in a Truth Social post late Thursday, said the airstrikes followed his directives, describing them as “powerful strikes” which only the US is capable of executing.

But while reacting to the development, Sowore questioned claims by Nigerian authorities that they were aware of the operation and that it was conducted with “international partners.”

He argued that the strikes happened without Nigeria’s genuine approval or informed consent.

He wrote, “Although the Nigerian government now claims it was aware and describes the operation as a joint effort with vague ‘international partners,’ it is evident that the strikes were carried out without the genuine authority or informed consent of the weaklings masquerading as government under President Bola Tinubu”

Sowore added that judging by reports of the confirmed strike on a village in Sokoto, he said it was clear that the U.S. President “neither understands nor genuinely cares about Nigeria or Nigerians.”

He noted that the situation highlighted a broader issue: Africa’s most populous country “lacks the capable and sovereign leadership required to protect its people and its territory.”

The former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate added that the country has effectively been “reduced to a bystander while its sovereignty is violated under the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump.”

Sowore emphasised that foreign intervention cannot replace competent national governance, stressing that “only true, tested, and informed leadership can protect Nigerians, not imperiled, jaundiced neoconservatives operating from Washington, D.C.” (TRIBUNE)