Nigeria’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, has stated that the country is open to expanding military and security collaborations with the United States to combat terrorist groups and bandits in Northern Nigeria.

She described the U.S. strikes carried out on Christmas Day as a blessing for Nigeria and expressed hope for further collaboration between the two nations.

During a visit to the United States, Mrs. Tinubu spoke about the airstrikes, which targeted terrorist locations in Sokoto.

She also attended the National Prayer Breakfast with former U.S. President Donald Trump, who had directed the strikes.

Mrs. Tinubu said the actions brought relief to Nigeria as the country continues to face attacks that have claimed the lives of many, noting that the government is dealing with the issues.

“The intervention of the U.S. was quite a welcome development.

“Nigeria is looking forward to collaboration” with the U.S. on security issues. “We are expecting that there will be more,” Tinubu told Fox News Digital during a week-long visit to Washington, D.C.

The Christmas Day strikes marked the first direct military action by the U.S. in Nigeria.

President Trump had previously warned that airstrikes would continue if terrorists did not halt attacks on Christians.

He described the operations as a gift to the country and reiterated that the United States would not allow extremist groups to thrive under his leadership.

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APC Chieftain, Abiodun Ajiboye, says Nigeria is not ready for real time transmission of election result due to poor infrastructure.

Ajiboye said this while speaking on Arise TV on Monday, February 9. In his words

“Transmitting election results electronically is the function of manner of voting. If you vote manually, and you collate results, how do you then transmit electronically real-time? It’s just not possible. We can’t even afford it. Even if we wish to, we can’t afford it,

Do the telecom operators have that capability? Do we have enough electricity to undertake that responsibility in Nigeria?

Is the infrastructure of telecom companies sufficient enough to undertake such exercise?

The last election we had, the INEC server was attacked over a million times.

So what they’re saying is that we should put the electoral process within the vulnerability of hijackers, causing a lot of confusion. This is what I see them pushing.”

He noted that manual processes remain central to elections.

“There are manual parts of election. And what can happen, like it has always happened, is you vote, and they count the votes there, the party agents append their signatures on the paper, the paper can then be scanned and transmitted anyhow you want,” he noted.

Ajiboye insisted that Nigeria is not yet capable of electronic voting or real-time result transmission:

“A man is only able to do what he is capable of. We have no capability to do electronic voting or real-time transmission at this time.

America does not even do real-time transmission. Go and check. We don’t even have telecom provided for some rural communities. Some rural communities don’t even have electricity. You’re trying to disenfranchise a lot of people by pushing for what is not possible. Technologically, it is not possible. Stop stampeding the Senate and National Assembly into getting into something very difficult, that will put everybody in a mess at the end of the day.”

Ahead of the 2027 general election in Nigeria, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has defended the removal of the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from the amended Electoral Act.

The Senate had last week removed mandatory e-transmission of election results from the legislation.

The Senate’s decision sparked controversy across the country with Nigerians, including opposition parties and the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, urging the lawmakers to reverse the decision.

Responding to the controversy during the launch of a book by former senator, Effiong Bob, titled ‘The Burdens of Legislators in Nigeria’, Akpabio blasted the critics, noting that it is the responsibility of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to determine the modality of elections.

While justifying the decision of the Senate, Akpabio noted that there is no network in nine states among the 36 states in Nigeria, due to insecurity.

He further asked Nigerians to direct their grievance to INEC, stating that the agency is responsible for deployment of technology.

Akpabio said, “Real-time transmission means that in over nine states where networks are not working because of insecurity, there will be no election results. Nationally, it means that if the national grid collapses and no network is working, no election results will be valid.

“But you see them talking. We even have a young man from Akwa Ibom who is publicity secretary to one of the parties. When you see him talking you will think he knows it all.

“He doesn’t know anything about lawmaking, and he would talk and talk and talk. But what can I say? I can’t answer. The Senate does not conduct elections, we don’t deploy technology, we only make laws. And INEC must apply the law.

“The timing scoop and modality rests with INEC, acting within the framework of the law enacted by the parliament and interpreted by the Supreme Court.”