In the aftermath of the United States Christmas Day airstrikes in Northwest Nigeria, the demand for accountability, institutional reform, and locally-rooted solutions to the country’s deepening security crisis has grown louder and more insistent.
Scholars, policy experts, and civil society leaders have continued to argue that the incident does not only represents an isolated military episode, but a defining moment that exposes longstanding weaknesses in the country’s security governance and democratic accountability.
It is against this backdrop that the Conflict Research Network, CORN West Africa, in partnership with The Africa Disruptions Lab (TADLab) will on Wednesday January 21, 2026, convene a second policy dialogue to interrogate Nigeria’s security architecture in relation to the safety of its people and the expanding footprint of foreign military interventions.
The dialogue, scheduled to commence at 3:00pm West Africa Time and to be held virtually via Zoom, is themed “The Christmas Day Reckoning: Tracking Justice and Change Since the US Airstrikes in Nigeria.”
In a statement signed by its Communications Consultant, Bankole Shakirudeen Adeshina, CORN West Africa says the dialogue is designed to examine what has followed the airstrikes, not only in operational terms, but in matters of accountability, institutional response, security doctrine, international partnerships, and the protection of civilians.
The statement explained that the parley would focus not on revisiting outrage alone, but on assessing whether Nigeria’s security institutions and political leadership have demonstrated learning, reform, and transparency, or whether the country is drifting back into familiar patterns of silence and impunity.
According to the organisers, the dialogue will feature experts with deep and authoritative understanding of Nigeria’s security situation, whose insights and projections are expected to inform more coherent and people centered local and foreign military policies.
The panelists include Professor Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, and Ms Abiodun Baiyewu, each bringing distinct perspectives from scholarship, human rights practice, and civic engagement.
“Rather than treating the Christmas Day United States led military action as a closed chapter, the ongoing CORN West Africa and Africa Disruptions Lab dialogue series views it as part of an unfolding national test,” the statement reads in part.
At stake, the organisers, say, are unresolved questions around accountability, civilian protection, and the conditions under which force is exercised within Nigeria’s borders.
These questions, the organizer insisted, would continue to challenge the credibility of Nigeria’s security institutions, the judgment of its political leadership, and the terms of its international partnerships.
It says, at the dialogue, attention will turn not to final verdicts, but to satisfy curiosity on whether the responses so far suggest genuine reform and openness or a quiet return to business as usual, helping to understand what the critical momemt may have become for Nigeria’s security governance and democratic future.
This will be the second time CORN West Africa and TADLab are convening a policy dialogue that brings together policy actors, security experts, diplomats, and civil society voices to examine the fallout of the U.S. Christmas Day military operation in Nigeria.
The first dialogue, held on December 30, 2025, attracted over 200 participants from Nigeria, North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and other parts of Africa.
That high-level conversation, hosted virtually on Zoom, examined the implications of the airstrikes for Nigeria’s sovereignty, security governance, and civilian protection.
The inaugural episode featured Dr Fatima Akilu, Prof. Oluwafunmilayo Para-Mallam, and Mr. Dele Farotimi, and was moderated by Dr Gbemisola Abiola. These intellectual and policy experts made a strong case for improved security and policy framework for a safe and secure Nigeria.
For instance, Dr. Akilu, during her presentation, had warned that sovereignty is fundamentally weakened when citizens learn of military actions affecting their country from foreign sources rather than their own government.
She observed that when citizens are neither informed nor protected by their state, sovereignty becomes hollow.
She also cautioned against framing Nigeria’s violence purely in religious terms, noting that such narratives obscure the full range of victims and the complex drivers of violence.
On her part, Prof. Para-Mallam underscored the intimate link between insecurity and state failure, arguing that when a state cannot secure its territory or protect its people, sovereignty has already been compromised.
She drew attention to the human costs of unchecked militarismzation, stressing that the true cost of security failures goes far beyond budgetary figures and is ultimately measured in lost lives and devastated communities
Mr. Farotimi, a lawyer and human rights activist, also offered a more uncompromising critique, insisting that Nigeria’s security crisis is not accidental.
According to him, the country did not arrive at its present condition by chance, and the deepest insult is not foreign intervention itself, but the elite failure that created the conditions under which such intervention became possible.
MEDIA CONTACT
Bankole Shakirudeen Adeshina
Communications Consultant
CORN West Africa
08033847701
[email protected]
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