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| US President, Joe Biden |
The United States has expressed its readiness to help Nigeria identify sponsors of terrorism in the country.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, disclosed this on Monday during a meeting with journalists in Abuja.
The envoy was asked if the US was ready to help Nigeria identify sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria.
She, however, said talks were ongoing on the matter.
Leonard said, “That is something we are very eager to partner Nigeria on.
“I have had at least three conversations in the last two months on this subject.
“I won’t like to go into details.”
She also allayed fear that the US partnership with Nigeria might end up like that of Afghanistan.
On release and reintegration of ex-Boko Haram insurgents (1)
According to her, Nigeria has had a strong bilateral relationship with the US, saying that the situations are not the same.
She added, “I hear people making the analogy with Afghanistan a lot, it does not match up.
“When you listen to what President Biden said on how troops went to Afghanistan in the first place, it was because they were in a horrible tragedy, over 3,000 Americans were killed.
“That is a different construct. The sovereign nations who have had strong bilateral relations. I don’t actually think the two match up.”
The Commander, US Air Forces in Europe, General Jeffrey Harrigian, said the purchase of Tucano fighter jets was an opportunity to cement the US relationship with Nigeria as well as curbing insecurity.
He said, “The A -29 Super Tucano gives us an opportunity to reconnect our relationship with Nigeria.
“It is also an opportunity to bring together the capabilities on the human side and what the A29 brings to the nation, practically as it would contribute to bringing stability to not only Nigeria but the region.”
Meanwhile, a former Navy Commodore, Kunle Olawunmi, had claimed Boko Haram terrorists mentioned names of current governors, senators and Aso Rock officials as sponsors during interrogation but President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated an unwillingness to go after the high-profile politicians for reasons best known to him.
Olawunmi, a Professor of Global Security Studies, had said, “You remember this Boko Haram issue started in 2012 and I was in the military intelligence at that time. We arrested those people. My organisation actually conducted interrogation and they (suspects) mentioned names. I can’t come on air and start mentioning names of people that are presently in government that I know that the boys that we arrested mentioned. Some of them are governors now, some of them are in the Senate, some of them are in Aso Rock.
“Why should a government decide to cause this kind of embarrassment and insecurity to the sense of what happened yesterday (Tuesday attack on Nigerian Defence Academy)?” he queried, adding that terrorist financiers want to turn Nigeria to a Taliban type of country.