US-based Group Condemns Nigeria’s Airstrikes In Benin Republic

A Washington-based organisation, Save Nigeria Group USA, has criticised the Nigerian government’s recent military intervention in Benin Republic.

In a statement signed by the group’s president, Hon. Stephen Osemwegie, and its media director, Mr Victor Onyeka Ben, it questioned the priorities of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, accusing it of displaying readiness to bomb a neighbouring country while failing to adequately safeguard Nigerians at home.

The Nigerian government has said the airstrikes were conducted under the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance to deter a potential military coup in Benin.
However, the group rejected the explanation, calling it “a thinly veiled excuse” for unjustifiable military action.

“The Tinubu administration deployed Nigerian Air Force assets across international borders without public debate, without legislative authorisation and without the consent of the Nigerian people,” the statement read.

The group criticised the government for previously declining offers of US assistance for targeted operations against Boko Haram and other extremist groups, which continue to attack Nigerian communities.

Expressing further worry, the organisation highlighted the plight of over 350,000 displaced Nigerians housed in IDP camps in Benin Republic, warning that they could become victims of potential retaliatory attacks. It called for the immediate provision of evacuation flights and enhanced protection for these vulnerable people.

It also cited alarming statistics, claiming that more than 100,000 Nigerians have been killed since 2009, with 7,000 deaths recorded between January and August 2025 alone. It is estimated that 11 million Nigerians are currently internally displaced as a result of attacks by extremist militias and other armed groups.

“Entire communities have been destroyed. Churches burned. Villages wiped out. Families decimated. Yet instead of defending Nigerians, the government now claims moral justification to attack another sovereign nation,” the group stated.