South African opposition party condemns US strike in Nigeria

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Friday condemned the Christmas Day airstrikes by the United States against Islamist militants in northwest Nigeria as a reckless escalation of US military imperialism in Africa.

It said the rationale for the strikes – described by US President Donald Trump as “powerful and deadly” – was a dangerous distortion of the reality in Nigeria’s Sokoto State to create a simplistic narrative of Christian persecution at the hands of Muslims.

“What occurred is clear: The United States launched airstrikes in the northwest of Nigeria, particularly in Sokoto State, claiming to target militants linked to the Islamic State. Trump framed the attack using highly inflammatory and religiously charged language, alleging that Christians were being viciously killed and positioning the United States as self-appointed saviour,” the EFF said in a statement received by PANA.

It accused Washington and Western politicians of deliberately casting decades of instability in the region as “a simplistic story and a dangerous story of Christian killings by Muslims”.

-0- PANA CU/MA 27Dec2025