President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday met with the Commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General Dagvin Anderson, his team and the Charge D’Affairs of U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, Keith Heffern, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Though no statement has been issued on details of the meeting, photos released by The Presidency identified those who attended the meeting to include the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed; Director General, Department of State Services, Tosin Ajayi; Command Sergeant Major Garric M. Banfield, Command Senior Enlisted Leader, United States Africa Command (AFRICOM); Senior Foreign Policy Adviser, AFRICOM, Ambassador Peter Vrooman; and Charge D’Affairs U.S Embassy in Nigeria, Keith Heffern.
Others at the meeting include Commander AFRICOM, General Dagvin Anderson; President Bola Tinubu; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (Rtd); Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu; and Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lieutenant General Emmanuel Uandiande.
The meeting held days after Anderson stated that the United States had dispatched a small team of troops to Nigeria following recent security cooperation between the two countries.
General Anderson told African journalists during an online interview: “I was able to go to the Aqaba Process in Rome last – late last year that was hosted by the prime minister of Italy and the king of Jordan, focused specifically on the terrorist threat in West Africa. And at that meeting, I was able to meet President Tinubu. We were able to share some thoughts and agree that we needed to work together on a way forward in the region.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years. And I think we’ve had some really good, positive movement there. My deputy was just there with a high-level delegation from State Department led by Allison Hooker, in order to look at how we can continue to move forward together.”
General Anderson added: “Our partnership with Nigeria is a great example of a very willing and capable partner who requested the unique capabilities that only the U.S. can bring – with some of the ISR, some of the intelligence fusion – to bring that to bear together.
“And when we do that, we are much more effective to counter these threats. And being able to counter these threats together, I think, has been – is critical to our future. And so while there are many nations that are concerned with this, when we can find a capable, willing partner to work with and we can fuse the unique capabilities that U.S. brings, we have seen success in addressing these threats.”
Nigeria and the United States of America officials have been collaborating in recent times following killings and attacks by terrorists in some parts of the country.
