United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine met on Thursday evening with a high-level Nigerian delegation led by the country’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, in a closed-door session at the Pentagon.
According to American defence officials, the meeting — which was not on the public schedule for either Hegseth or Gen. Caine — included key figures from Nigeria such as Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs), IG Kayode Egbetokun, and Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Femi Olukoyede.
The talks come amid heightened tension between the two nations following President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy U.S. military forces into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” to “wipe out the Islamic terrorists” he accused of targeting Christians in the country.
