Former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has called on the Federal Government to extend Nigeria’s joint military operations with the United States against terrorist hideouts to the North-East region of the country.

Ndume made the appeal in a statement issued on Saturday, while commending the recent military strikes carried out against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) cells in Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

United States President, Donald Trump, had announced the attacks on his Truth Social platform, revealing that the Department of War executed what he described as “numerous perfect strikes” against terrorist targets.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, later confirmed the development, stressing that the U.S. military strikes were conducted with Nigeria’s full cooperation, approval and intelligence support.

He added that the operation did not violate Nigeria’s sovereignty and was not directed at any religious group.

Ndume, a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, said extending the joint military operations to the North-East would significantly weaken the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram insurgents operating in the region.

“We welcome this cooperation between Nigeria and the United States in targeting terrorist hideouts,” he said. “I am calling on them to extend it to the North-East where ISWAP and Boko Haram have their three known black spots, Lake Chad, the Mandara Mountains and Sambisa Forest, which are exclusive strongholds of these groups.”

He further urged that the military partnership with the United States should go beyond air strikes to include support for ground troops through training, intelligence sharing and logistics, as well as the deployment of attack helicopters to back ground operations.

The federal lawmaker commended President Bola Tinubu for allocating what he described as the highest budgetary provision to defence in the 2026 Appropriation Bill but insisted on the need for accountability and transparency in the utilisation of the funds.

Reacting to the recent suicide bomb attack at a mosque in Gamboru, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which claimed five lives and left many others injured, Ndume expressed condolences to the victims and their families.

“I sympathise with the victims of the bomb blasts in Borno State, where many people were killed and injured,” he said. “The incident at the mosque in Gamboru clearly shows that the terrorists do not care about religion.

“In this instance, which occurred on the eve of Christmas, all the victims were Muslims.

“The narrative of religious targeting does not exist. These terrorists are simply bent on making life unbearable for our people and are blind to religion.” (The Nation)