Monday, February 16 2026 -Three United States aircraft carrying troops and weapons have reportedly arrived in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
According to the New York Times, the first plane arrived in
the capital city on Thursday night, noting officials from both countries said
the first batch of roughly 100 US troops will arrive in Nigeria over the
weekend.
By Friday evening, three planes were reported to have landed
in Maiduguri, with equipment being offloaded from one of them.
These first arrivals mark the start of C-17 cargo planes
heading to three different sites across Nigeria, a US Defence Department
official told the newspaper, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the
sensitivity of operational details.
More aircraft transporting personnel and equipment are
scheduled to arrive this weekend, with additional flights planned over the
coming weeks, the official added.
The spokesperson for Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, Samaila
Uba, a major general, said the US troops would not engage in combat operations.
He mentioned this to the Wall Street Journal a few days ago when the US-based
paper reported that the United States will deploy 200 troops to Nigeria.
“These personnel do not serve in a combat capacity and will
not assume a direct operational role,” Mr Uba also told The New York Times.
“Nigerian forces retain full command authority, make all operational decisions
and will lead all missions on Nigerian sovereign territory.”
Mr. Uba said the deployment stemmed from recommendations
made by a US-Nigeria joint working group and that the forces would serve in an
advisory capacity at multiple sites.
The deployment comes after months of mounting pressure from
President Trump, who has strongly criticised Nigeria’s government for what he
describes as its failure to adequately protect Christians from deadly attacks
carried out by Islamist militants and armed groups.
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