After meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama (pictured right) earlier this week for help in fighting terrorist group Boko Haram, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari criticized the United States for “unwittingly” aiding the militants with their Leahy Law Amendment, reports the BBC.
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Last November, Nigerian Ambassador to the United States Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye offered sharp criticism of the United States as he addressed the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Adefuye lamented, “The U.S. government has up till today refused to grant Nigeria’s request to purchase lethal equipment that would have brought down the terrorists within a short time.
“We find it difficult to understand how and why, in spite of the US presence in Nigeria with their sophisticated military technology, Boko Haram should be expanding and becoming more deadly.”
At the time, Boko Haram was busy establishing their caliphate, capturing a litany of towns and continuing to bomb, kidnap, and kill civilians.
Nearly nine months later — barring that Boko Haram’s caliphate has been dismantled — much remains the same: with the seemingly incessant suicide bombings and explosions increasing the death toll.
On Wednesday, President Buhari echoed Adefuye’s sentiments as he addressed the United States Institute of Peace, insisting that the Leahy Law Amendment of not providing arms to nations accused of human rights violations is facilitating Boko Haram in their destructive endeavors.
President Buhari said, “[The Nigerian military did] not possess the appropriate weapons and technology which we could have had if the so-called human rights violations had not been an obstacle.
“Unwittingly, and I dare say unintentionally, the application of the Leahy Law Amendment by the United States government has aided and abetted the Boko Haram terrorists.”
In June, Amnesty International accused five Nigerian military officials of being responsible for more than 8,000 deaths and uncountable acts of torture.
As Face2Face Africa previously reported:
On Wednesday, Amnesty International released their report — chock-full with hundreds of interviews with former detainees, civilians, and military sources — that show that thousands were allegedly starved, suffocated, and tortured to death once detained by the military for supposedly being affiliated with terrorist organization Boko Haram.
According to the report, “[Armed forces] committed countless acts of torture; hundreds, if not thousands, of Nigerians have become victims of enforced disappearance; and at least 7,000 people have died in military detention as a result of starvation, extreme overcrowding and denial of medical assistance.”
In response to the allegations, Spokesman Mike Omeri said, “The government of Nigeria has zero tolerance of the mistreatment of citizens, especially when human rights are involved.”
President Buhari also said that he took the matter very seriously and would conduct a thorough investigation.
Either way, with at least another 29 civilians losing their life to another bomb attack on Wednesday in the northeastern city of Gombe and nearly a dozen killed in the Cameroonian town of Maroua also this week, life continues to be lost, adding to the more than 10,000 people who have been killed by Boko Haram since 2009.
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