Video: ‘Worsened security crisis,’ Dalung blasts US military presence in Nigeria
Abdullateef Fowewe
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has criticised the deployment of US military trainers in Nigeria, claiming it has exacerbated the country’s security woes rather than resolving them.
Speaking in an interview on Friday, Dalung argued that the American presence has inflamed tensions with terrorist groups.
“If the Americans have raised concern and want to intervene, and they are against the coming of the Americans, then it means that they are responsible for what is happening to Nigerians,” he said.
He added, “The coming of the Americans has even worsened the situation. The terrorists are more involved with arrival of the Americans. They have been more assertive and they’ve also become aggressive in terms of attacks.”
Dalung questioned the effectiveness of US-provided drones, referencing a recent Boko Haram attack on a military formation in the Maiduguri area that killed a commander.
“If there were effective, why couldn’t they detect when Boko Haram was moving to attack a military formation today in Maiduguri / the area? Why did he kill his commander? Where is that drone?” he asked.
“Terrorists move kinetically — that is, using motorcycle vehicles. If they had drones that the Americans brought, these drones did not see them. Could it be that this drone have been blinded from seeing the terrorists?” he added.
The roughly 200 US advisers arrived in February 2026 at Nigeria’s request to offer counterterrorism training and intelligence support against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), groups responsible for over 2,000 deaths in 2025 alone.
Dalung concluded, “I think the issue of presence of Americans in Nigeria has created more problems for the Nigerian security situation as compared to when they were not here. And I’m confused as to what actually are they doing here.”
