The Nigerian military rejects statements by a senior U.S. official that American forces captured a large cache of electronic materials from terrorists in an operation in Nigeria and transported the materials out of the country. Brig.-Gen. Samalia Uba, Director of Defence Information, says the materials in question consist of declassified intelligence from previous Nigerian counter-terrorism operations. Uba states that the intelligence was provided voluntarily to the United States as part of ongoing Nigeria–U.S. counter-terrorism cooperation, and that the materials were released by the Nigerian government rather than captured by U.S. forces during a separate action in Nigeria.
The dispute follows comments attributed to Sebastian Gorka, a U.S. Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, who said U.S. operators killed 199 jihadists in one operation and recovered an unusually large volume of enemy electronic intelligence. Nigerian authorities describe U.S.–Nigeria intelligence exchange as an existing collaboration, including reference to earlier joint operations, and say the U.S. claims should not be read as evidence that American forces independently seized the electronic materials from terrorists in Nigeria.
