Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for relying on claims by United States President Donald Trump regarding the reported killing of senior Islamic State West Africa Province commander, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, also known as Abu Mainok, despite the Nigerian military having earlier announced his death in 2024.
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Falana made the criticism in a statement on Saturday titled, “President Tinubu Should Stop Relying On President Trump’s False Claims On The Prosecution Of The Counter Insurgency Operations In Nigeria.”
According to him, President Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, should obtain accurate information on counter-insurgency operations directly from the Defence Headquarters rather than relying on foreign claims.
“Our attention has been drawn to President Bola Tinubu’s confirmation of President Donald Trump’s claim that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki has just been killed,” Falana stated.
“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Tinubu should contact the Defence Headquarters on the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki and other terrorists instead of relying on President Donald Trump’s erroneous claims on the prosecution of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria,” he added.
Falana’s reaction followed confusion over the reported killing of Minuki, after the Defence Headquarters had, in April 2024, listed him among top terrorist commanders neutralised during military operations conducted between January and March of that year.
The then Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, had identified Minuki as the “Head of IS-Al Furqan Province,” also linked to ISGS and ISWAP. He said the terrorist commander was killed on February 21, 2024, during operations targeting terrorist enclaves.
The military had also linked him to insurgent activities around Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna State and attacks along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
However, in May 2026, President Tinubu announced that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki had again been killed in what he described as a successful joint military operation involving Nigerian and United States forces in the Lake Chad Basin.
In a personally signed statement, Tinubu said early assessments confirmed the elimination of the wanted IS senior leader, along with several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound.
He described the operation as “a significant example of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism” and thanked Trump for his support.
Trump had earlier announced the operation on his Truth Social platform, claiming that American forces and the Nigerian Armed Forces had carried out a “meticulously planned and very complex mission” to eliminate al-Minuki, whom he described as “the most active terrorist in the world” and “second in command of ISIS globally.”
The conflicting claims have raised questions over whether Minuki was wrongly declared dead in 2024, later resurfaced under another identity, or whether there were intelligence gaps in earlier military assessments.
Falana’s intervention has added to growing scrutiny over official communication on Nigeria’s counter-insurgency operations and the government’s reliance on foreign narratives in matters concerning national security.
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