Reno Omokri Blames U.S. for Nigeria’s Terrorism Crisis, Says Obama’s Libya Policy Fueled Insurgency

Story: written by Myra October 14,2025
Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has blamed the United States for Nigeria’s prolonged battle with terrorism, alleging that American foreign policy decisions under former President Barack Obama directly contributed to the rise of insurgency in the country.

Omokri made the assertion during an interview on Arise Television’s “Prime Time” on Monday, where he argued that the destabilisation of Libya by U.S.-led forces in 2011 triggered a ripple effect across Africa’s Sahel region, including Nigeria.

According to him, the fall of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi created a vacuum that allowed armed mercenaries and extremist groups to spill into West Africa, bringing with them weapons and chaos.

“There’s a moral responsibility on the United States because this terrorism problem was brought to Nigeria’s doorstep by Barack Obama’s administration,” Omokri stated.

“If Obama’s government had not intervened in Libya, Gaddafi would still be alive. Without his fall, those foreign mercenaries would not have left Libya to destabilise the Sahel and Nigeria. The U.S. intervention set off this chain of events.”

Omokri further explained that Nigeria, alongside other African nations, is now paying the price for a crisis it did not create. He added that while the administration of Donald Trump later approved the sale of arms to Nigeria to combat insurgency, the root cause of the problem originated from the earlier U.S. intervention in Libya.

“The U.S. caused these problems and they need to help us fix them. Nigeria did not start this war against terrorism; it was imported through the collapse of Libya,” he said.

Omokri’s remarks reignite a long-standing debate over how Western military interventions in Africa and the Middle East have fueled instability in the region. Security analysts have previously linked the proliferation of arms and the movement of mercenaries from post-Gaddafi Libya to the rise of groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

He concluded by urging the United States to take greater responsibility in supporting African nations affected by the consequences of its foreign policy decisions, noting that “helping to rebuild regional stability would be the moral thing to do.”