US Airstrike, ADP urges Nigeria To Defend Its Airspace Sovereignty
The Action Democratic Party, ADP, has expressed grave concern over reports of foreign missile strikes conducted within Nigerian territory and subsequent
official narrative that Nigeria was merely ‘aware’ of the operations, noting that awareness is not sovereignty as the country must defend its skies or face the truth.
It also said awareness after impact is not sovereignty. A nation that cannot detect what enters its skies cannot defend its people. Sovereignty without detection is sovereignty only on paper.
Speaking on Sunday in Abuja, the Founder and National Chairman of the Action
Democratic Party, Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sani said: “Awareness after impact is not sovereignty. A nation that learns of missile activity in its own airspace only after detonation has not exercised defence, it has suffered intrusion.”
Engr Sani emphasized that sovereignty in modern warfare is
determined before the use of force, not after, stating that; “Control means detection, tracking, authorization, or denial. Anything
less is theatre. Notification is political courtesy; detection is sovereign
power. A state that receives explanations instead of issuing commands
has already surrendered the core function of defence.”
The ADP noted that Sections 14(2)(b) and 217 of the 1999 Constitution places an unambiguous obligation on the Nigerian state, to guarantee the security of its people and to defend the nation against external aggression.
According to the Party, these constitutional duties cannot be fulfilled through post-event briefings or diplomatic explanations.
Reacting to the absence of a post-strike assessment days after the reported
operation, Engr Sani warned that, “If Nigeria truly knew before the missiles flew, it should know, days later, what they achieved. The inability to verify outcomes on our own soil, exposes a dangerous dependency and a serious erosion of
sovereign control.”
The ADP rejected suggestions that post-event notification or silence amounts to
consent, stressing that any authorization for the use of force within Nigerian
territory must be explicit, constitutionally grounded, and subject to National
Assembly oversight.
“Silence is not consent. Notification is not authorization. Defence policy
cannot lawfully operate in the shadows, outside democratic oversight,
without doing violence to the Constitution itself,” he said.
The Party further cautioned that international cooperation, while valuable, must
never substitute for national capability also pointed that; “Where a state cannot monitor or defend its own airspace, sovereignty becomes theoretical. Cooperation slides into dependence, and dependence ultimately, erodes autonomy.”
Accordingly, the ADP, called for immediate public disclosure of Nigeria’s role, if any, in the reported missile operation, including intelligence, authorization, and command arrangements.
“A comprehensive post-strike assessment to be presented to the National
Assembly and the Nigerian people.
“Urgent investment in integrated national air-defence and surveillance
systems to restore real-time sovereign control of Nigerian airspace.
Strict adherence to constitutional processes in all matters, involving foreign
military activity on Nigerian soil,” he added.
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