The Armed forces urged residents in the northwestern state of Sokoto on Wednesday to surrender any hazardous remnants collected from the site of a recent US airstrike against terrorist targets, warning of potential dangers after locals were seen handling bomb fragments in a widely shared vide
Defence spokesman Major General Michael Onoja expressed concern over unauthorized individuals removing explosive materials from the blast area in Jabo community, where American forces conducted strikes on Christmas Day in coordination with Nigerian authorities.
“We can only appeal to them to return all materials that may prove harmful to them,” Onoja told reporters in the capital. “We do not expect anybody to take away these materials. There are formations within the armed forces whose duty it is to recover and disarm them.”
He stressed that civilians lack the expertise to safely manage such items, calling on media outlets to amplify the plea and directing those with fragments to deliver them to nearby security posts.
“We want this message disseminated widely so that these materials can be returned and disarmed before they cause greater damage to those who took them and to members of the public,” Onoja added.
The alert follows online footage showing villagers toying with debris while deriding the US military’s capabilities compared to Nigeria’s, amid broader fears of terrorists exploiting unsecured weapons in the region.
US President Donald Trump announced the operation on social media, describing it as a decisive hit on ISIS-linked militants, a claim echoed by Nigeria’s foreign ministry which confirmed no civilian deaths.
While some welcomed the intervention as a boost to counter-terrorism efforts, critics including politician Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi decried it as an infringement on Nigeria’s territorial integrity.
