The Coalition of Civil Society Groups for Peace, Security, Good Governance, Equity and Justice has congratulated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Chief of Defence Staff General Olufemi Oluyede, and the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu following the neutralization of the global second-in-command of ISIS, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, also known as Abubakar Mainok.
In a press statement issued on May 17, 2026, in Abuja, the coalition described the precision joint operation carried out by the Nigerian Armed Forces in coordination with United States forces in the Metele enclave of Borno State as “the single most significant counterterrorism triumph in the Lake Chad Basin in recent memory.”
According to the statement, removing al-Minuki, identified as the global head of the General Directorate of States for ISIS, has decapitated the operational, economic, and media nerve center of global terrorism on African soil.
The coalition addressed skepticism surrounding the operation, noting that some critics claimed the terrorist leader had been reportedly killed in the Birnin Gwari axis in 2024. “We must educate these public skeptics that the fog of war in asymmetric security operations often involves complex identity shielding, lookalikes, and false aliases used by terrorist networks to preserve their command structure,” the statement said.
It added that intelligence reports leading up to May 2026 deployed extensive digital forensics, phone intercepts, and human surveillance, confirming with 100 percent certainty that the strike was the definitive end of al-Minuki. “The 2024 report was a clear case of mistaken battlefield identity, and using historical anomalies to discredit a validated, internationally recognized victory is a disservice to our troops,” the coalition stated.
The group attributed the success of the mission to the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose foreign policy and defense diplomacy have renewed critical intelligence-sharing and Force-Enabler partnerships with international allies. It also commended the military leadership under General Olufemi Oluyede and Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu for their operational brilliance and tactical re-engineering of the theater of operations.
“The death of al-Minuki and several of his foreign lieutenants has broken the spine of ISWAP,” the coalition said, warning political detractors and armchair security analysts to cease the politicization of national security. “We stand solidly behind our Armed Forces as they press forward to completely sanitize every inch of Nigerian territory.”
The statement concluded with the declaration, “Long live the Armed Forces of Nigeria! Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!”
The release was signed by Comrade James Okoronkwo, National Coordinator of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups for Peace, Security, Good Governance, Equity and Justice.
