At least three United States military planes touched down in Nigeria between Thursday and Friday, OBSERVERS TIMES report.
The aircraft landed at bases in Borno and other north-eastern states, senior Defence Headquarters officers said, bringing in ammunition supplied by Washington.
“Following Nigeria-US bilateral talks on security, the American government will not only deploy soldiers but also provide the necessary logistics, including ammunition, to fight the insurgents,” one officer told our correspondents on condition of anonymity.
Another senior officer described the shipment as routine resupply: “We go for operations and burn through different calibres of ammo. The US aircraft came to top up our stocks—it isn’t the first time. Expect more flights and troops as both governments, co-ordinated by the National Security Adviser, push to curb insecurity.”
The New York Times reported on Saturday that a US transport was spotted in Maiduguri on Thursday night; by Friday evening three planes sat on the apron with kit being off-loaded.
A Pentagon source told the paper, “These initial flights are the vanguard of what will be a stream of C-17 sorties into three main hubs across Nigeria.”
Separately, the X account @mobilisingniger, run by a self-described counter-terrorism analyst, posted on Friday that a US Air Force C-30J had arrived at Kaduna International Airport after leaving Ghana. The post speculated that the Kaduna Depot could serve as a training site for American instructors working with Nigerian units, hinting at a widening US security footprint in the region.
