The Federal Government on Tuesday said the recent rescue operation by the United States special forces on Nigerian soil was not a violation of the country’s sovereignty, adding that it granted the US the permission to carry out the operation.
Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd.), said the Nigerian government granted the US necessary permission to carry out the military operation which was conducted by the US special forces over the weekend, where an American citizen kidnapped by bandits and held in the northern part of Nigeria was rescued.
He said shortly after he defended his Ministry’s budget at the Senate that Nigeria gave permission to the United States “as a friendly country” almost as soon as it was contacted by the government.
While denying that the United States might have violated Nigeria’s sovereignty Magashi said the country was doing the best it could with what is available to the military to deploy adequate technology in its operations.
The minister, however, said that Nigeria would explore the current partnership with the United States to tackle insurgency in the country
