A fresh report has revealed that the United States may have relied partly on information provided by Emeka Umeagbalasi, a screwdriver trader based in Onitsha, Anambra State, before launching recent airstrikes in Nigeria.

According to a New York Times investigation, Umeagbalasi, founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has been cited by US Republican lawmakers in pushing claims that Christians are being systematically targeted and killed in Nigeria.

On December 26, the United States carried out airstrikes on ISIS terrorists in northwestern Sokoto State, an operation the US said was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities.

The New York Times described Umeagbalasi as “an unlikely source” whose reports have nonetheless been used by US lawmakers Riley Moore and Ted Cruz, alongside New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith.

US President Donald Trump had reportedly asked the lawmakers to probe allegations of a “Christian genocide” in Nigeria, and all three have cited Umeagbalasi’s work in support of those claims.
The report noted that Umeagbalasi often assumes victims are Christians if a mass killing or abduction occurs in areas with large Christian populations.

“If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians,” the New York Times stated.

However,  the United States is unlikely to have relied solely on Umeagbalasi’s accounts, given its extensive global intelligence and surveillance networks.

Recall that a day after Christmas, former US President Trump announced that American forces had struck Islamic terrorist camps in northwest Nigeria.

The Nigerian government later confirmed that the operation was carried out in its collaboration.