Nigeria on Monday dismissed a U.S. embassy warning of a possible attack on diplomatic missions in Lagos, saying there was no proof of any “terrorist activities” in the country.
The U.S. embassy in Nigeria said on Sunday it had received reports of a possible strike against missions located close to the U.S. consulate general in Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa’s biggest oil producer.
“The release by the U.S. embassy gives a false picture of the security situation in Nigeria,” said Information Minister Dora Akunyili.
“I, therefore, call on Nigerians, expatriates and tourists to go about their plans and businesses as there is no critical threat in the form of any immediate terrorist attack at this time,” she added.
Nigeria, the world’s eighth biggest crude oil exporter, supplying the United States and China, has never been the victim of a major terrorist attack.
But militants in the southern Niger Delta, the heartland of its oil industry, have regularly attacked installations belonging to U.S. and other oil giants.
The U.S. embassy gave no details of the reports about a possible attack in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
But it said that U.S. government facilities worldwide remained in a state of heightened alert because of the threat of violence against Americans and U.S. interests.