Nigeria Govt: If Boko haram is not upgraded , how are you gonna get help from International leaders?
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FG does not back U.S push to list Boko Haram among foreign terrorist organisation.
The Minister of Defence, Bello Mohammed on Wednesday said that the Federal government does not support the move by a U.S congress to designate extremist group, Boko Haram a “foreign terrorist organisation” because this could hamper dialogue with the sect.
Boko Haram, which in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria means “Western education is sinful,” is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
The Minister said this while responding to questions from a Reuters correspondent on the sideline of a meeting between South Africa and Nigeria in Cape Town.
“We are looking at a dialogue to establish the grievances of the Boko Haram. I think the attempt to declare them an international terrorist organization will not be helpful,” he said.
The Federal Government held indirect talks with Boko Haram in March, but discussions broke down quickly and the militant group said it could not trust the government. It is unclear whether government efforts to resume links have borne fruit since.
Pressure has been growing on the Obama administration to formally designate Boko Haram a “foreign terrorist organisation.”
Scott Brown, a Republican senator from Massachusetts, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late last week, urging her to designate the group as a terrorist organization.
U.S. Representatives Peter King and Patrick Meehan, chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its counterterrorism subcommittee, released a letter they sent to Clinton suggesting the administration was moving too slowly.
Boko Haram, which means “western education is sinful”, has claimed responsibility for months of attacks in northern Nigeria. Its attacks have mainly targeted the police, churches and outdoor drinking areas.
“Boko Haram is not operating in America and America is not operating in Nigeria,” said Mohammed. “They are not involved in our internal security operations, so I don’t think it would be of much significance really in that respect. But we don’t support it.”
1 comment:
Nigeria reminds one of a chronic debtor requesting to be accorded an A+ credit rating. The question here is why Nigerian officials would plead for the country to be excluded from a rating that it rightly deserves. Could this be a case of asking undeserved favor just for the sake of doing so? The Nigerian government is not being accused of being a sponsor of terrorism. Nigeria, however, has recently become a haven for perpetrators and sponsors of terrorism. Likewise, Nigeria is a well known haven for advance-fee fraudsters worldwide. Would the Nigerian government also request that its citizens be spared the odium of being rated as the fraud kingpins of Africa?
This appeal is accompanied by an assurance that the federal government can effectively deal with Boko Haram just like it “did in the past with other terrorist or rebel groups operating in the country”. This assurance is totally devoid of specificity and seriousness based on the fact that the federal government also acknowledges that Boko Haram has ties with al Qaeda. By the way, what are the “other terrorist or rebel groups operating in the country” that are mooted in this meaningless plea?
Someone is not advising the federal government well, at all, as far as this matter is concerned. Playing the proverbial ostrich or engaging in undue posturing does Nigeria no good before a superpower like the US which, after all, has the wherewithal to monitor all Al Qaeda linkages globally, including Boko Haram. As one would expect, the US intelligence outfit already knows that the Nigerian government lacks the willpower as well as capacity to deal with Boko Haram for a variety of reasons. Why should our government spokespersons, therefore, resort to telling a lie about the country’s capability that no one can see or feel, at least, as far as the likes of Boko Haram terror machine are concerned?
What Nigeria should do instead is to acknowledge the country’s shortcomings and then boldly seek required assistance in curtailing the Boko Haram’s murderous rampage. There is virtue in humility here, particularly in dealing with a monster that one is unable to grapple with in real time. Nigeria should consolidate a strategic partnership in decade-long campaign by the US and others against the Al Qaeda and its terrorist outlets in our part of the world. In fact, there are likely to be many more dividends coming Nigeria’s way by consummating this sort of anti-terrorism alliance rather than going out of our way to claim things that are short of the truth on the ground. Pakistan, for example, is still regarded as a vital US ally despite the fact that both the Taliban and their former hosts, the Al Qaeda, are firmly entrenched in that country as we speak. For aligning with the US, Pakistan is the third highest recipient of Uncle Sam’s foreign assistance after Israel and Egypt.
Do we, as Nigerians, learn anything from this?
Okenwa.
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