Donald Trump: Reports Shares How an Onitsha Trader Influenced US Leader’s Missile Strike in Nigeria
- Fear and confusion gripped a village in Sokoto State following a United States (US) strike in December 2025
- While the US Africa Command claimed the operation neutralised multiple ISIS militants, a credible media investigation has since challenged this assertion
- A report by The New York Times has now shared how a screwdriver trader in Onitsha influenced President Donald Trump's missile strike in Nigeria
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering global affairs and world news.
Onitsha, Anambra State - The United States (US) relied on information and reports from an Anambra-based man, Emeka Umeagbalasi, to launch air strikes in Africa's most populous nation.
According to a report on Sunday, January 18, 2026, by the New York Times, Umeagbalasi runs a small shop selling screwdrivers and wrenches in Onitsha, Anambra State, southeast Nigeria.
Source: Twitter
Onitsha trader influences Donald Trump's strike
In October 2025, US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in response to allegations of a Christian genocide in the country.
Then, in late December, the United States launched “powerful and deadly” strikes against groups it claims are affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) in Nigeria.
The US Department of War published footage of a missile being fired from a military vessel after Washington said it carried out a strike in northern Nigeria. President Trump said the attack targeted ISIL and was carried out at Nigeria’s request.
However, in a January 2026 report, HumAngle described the strike as “performative” and deemed it unsuccessful.
The media outfit said it gathered witness accounts moments after the US air raid, tracing events before, during, and after the missiles were launched. Residents of Bauni village in Sokoto State, where the strike happened, said they have seen no sign that any terrorist was hit.
Several Bauni locals were also interviewed, and in separate interviews, they all echoed one thing: the terrorists in the northwest region of Nigeria had long left the site of the attack before the missile was launched.
The strike raised curiosity in the communities, as villagers insisted they would know if any terrorist was killed or if any of them were injured.
'US lawmakers cited unverified Nigerian data'
Now, according to the New York Times' fresh report, Umeagbalasi, founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, popularly called Intersociety, is “an unlikely source of research that US Republican lawmakers have used to promote the misleading idea that Christians are being singled out for slaughter” in Nigeria.
Umeagbalasi, alongside his wife, run the non-governmental organisation from his home.
The report said US lawmakers Riley Moore and Ted Cruz, whom Trump had asked to probe the Christian genocide claims in Nigeria, alongside congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, “have all cited his work”.
Umeagbalasi was quoted as saying he has documented 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009, based on research from Google searches, Nigerian media reports, secondary sources, and advocacy groups like Open Doors, a Christian organisation whose data Trump has cited.
He told the New York Times that he rarely verifies his data. He also acknowledged that he seldom travels to the regions where attacks have occurred and usually assumes the victims’ religion based on the location of the attack.
The report reads:
“If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians."
Source: Twitter
The salesman claimed that he has degrees in security studies, peace and conflict resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria and described himself as a very “powerful” and “knowledgeable” investigator.
A self-acclaimed criminologist, Umeagbalasi is described as an expert in the report, where he alleged there is a “strategy to annihilate all Christians and Islamise Nigeria”. He claimed 100,000 churches exist in Nigeria, and about 20,000 of them were destroyed in the past 16 years. Asked about the source of his data, he simply replied, “I Googled it”.
Relying on information provided by three congressmen, who have repeatedly referenced Umeagbalasi’s data, Trump authorised a volley of strikes in Nigeria on Christmas Day 2025.
ADC reacts to US' airstrike in Nigeria
Legit.ng earlier reported that the ADC launched a blistering attack on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the US airstrike in Nigeria, accusing him of outsourcing his constitutional responsibility and effectively “reporting himself to another president”.
In a strongly-worded statement signed by its national spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC questioned Nigeria’s role in the operation and warned that the incident poses serious risks to the country’s sovereignty, strategic autonomy and self-respect.
The party argued that statements by the federal government suggest Nigeria merely played an intelligence-support role, rather than leading the operation on its own soil.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
