A Member of Parliament for South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has issued a scathing condemnation of recent United States military strikes in Nigeria, framing the intervention as a destructive act of American imperialism that threatens African sovereignty.
The condemnation came during a televised interview where the EFF MP was asked to respond to reports that the Nigerian government had welcomed and jointly conducted the operations with US forces.
The MP’s objections were multi-faceted. The primary concern centred on sovereignty, arguing that the “sovereignty of the Nigerian government is not respected or considered.” The lawmaker further criticized former US President Donald Trump for reportedly expressing pride in the intervention, stating it was “not necessary.”
A significant portion of the critique focused on the framing of the conflict. The MP accused the US and Western media of dangerously oversimplifying a complex situation by labelling Nigeria an “Islamic state” and portraying the violence narrowly as “terrorism of Christians being killed by an Islamic state.”
“The problem in the northern part of Nigeria… is an issue of poverty, land disposition and economic exclusion,” the MP stated, asserting that victims include “Christians, Muslims, non-believers and traditional community members.”
The EFF’s position is rooted in a deep-seated distrust of US military interventions, which the MP claimed inevitably lead to “a permanent state of destruction.” Citing examples from Libya and Sudan, the MP argued that wherever the American military goes, it leaves “thousands and millions of civilians dead” and devastation that takes “decades to recover.”
The MP expressed suspicion regarding US motives, suggesting the ultimate goal is to create chaos to facilitate the extraction of mineral resources by American companies. “That’s what Donald Trump wants,” the MP asserted, dismissing the claim of joint cooperation with Nigerian authorities as a “cover-up” and sign of a “puppet state.”
While acknowledging the Nigerian government’s acceptance of the strikes, the MP urged ordinary Nigerians to “refuse their government to bow down to the US imperialism,” warning that failure to do so would see Nigeria “turn upside down.”
The interview concluded with a regional warning, suggesting the conflict, which the MP claimed is “fueled and funded by the US,” would likely spread to other parts of the African continent if left unchecked. The EFF’s objection was framed not as a popular stance, but as a “principled position” in defence of African sovereignty.