WHEN President Muhammadu Buhari set out with his 32-man official delegation to the United States of America for an official visit to President Barack Obama, top on his shopping list was the quest to procure weapons and sundry support from the world’s sole superpower to flush out the Boko Haram jihadists from our embattled North East.
Other equally important items included soliciting support to fight corruption, repatriate our stolen moneys and secure the endorsement of the American business community to patronise our economy.
After four days of stay in Washington DC, the presidential team returned to the country with mixed results. Although President Obama expressed strong support for our war on corruption and more Americans showed interest in our economy, the crucial matter of procuring weapons was not successful (at least for now) due to what the American government described as “violation of human rights” by our troops in the war against Boko Haram.
The American government pointed to the Leahy Law of 1999, which forbids the US selling American arms to armies of foreign countries engaged in human rights violations, as their reason for refusing to sell crucial arms to Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram. The first time they refused to sell arms to us was when former President Goodluck Jonathan made a similar overture.
It is surprising that, in spite of President Buhari’s undertaking to investigate the allegations and his current high rating in Western circles, America still depended on unsubstantiated claims to, once again, deny us access to its arms.
It will also be recalled that when the Ebola scourge was rocking this country and we asked for the experimental drug, Z-Mapp, America bluntly refused. Happily, Nigeria single-handedly defeated Ebola, and America, in a twist of irony, offered to send expert to Nigeria to understudy how we did it.
Given the fact that America, once our biggest oil buyer, no longer buys our oil, it is time we thought deeply about our relations and reassessed the level of our dependence on foreign friends.
Our defeat of Ebola is an indication that there is no problem we cannot solve if we stick together as a nation. We must remain resolute in our opposition to the gay rights nonsense because it is against our laws and abhorrent to our culture.
Our salvation lies in our self-reliance, but first, the President must unite Nigerians under a uniform purpose.
Other equally important items included soliciting support to fight corruption, repatriate our stolen moneys and secure the endorsement of the American business community to patronise our economy.
After four days of stay in Washington DC, the presidential team returned to the country with mixed results. Although President Obama expressed strong support for our war on corruption and more Americans showed interest in our economy, the crucial matter of procuring weapons was not successful (at least for now) due to what the American government described as “violation of human rights” by our troops in the war against Boko Haram.
The American government pointed to the Leahy Law of 1999, which forbids the US selling American arms to armies of foreign countries engaged in human rights violations, as their reason for refusing to sell crucial arms to Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram. The first time they refused to sell arms to us was when former President Goodluck Jonathan made a similar overture.
It is surprising that, in spite of President Buhari’s undertaking to investigate the allegations and his current high rating in Western circles, America still depended on unsubstantiated claims to, once again, deny us access to its arms.
It will also be recalled that when the Ebola scourge was rocking this country and we asked for the experimental drug, Z-Mapp, America bluntly refused. Happily, Nigeria single-handedly defeated Ebola, and America, in a twist of irony, offered to send expert to Nigeria to understudy how we did it.
Given the fact that America, once our biggest oil buyer, no longer buys our oil, it is time we thought deeply about our relations and reassessed the level of our dependence on foreign friends.
Our defeat of Ebola is an indication that there is no problem we cannot solve if we stick together as a nation. We must remain resolute in our opposition to the gay rights nonsense because it is against our laws and abhorrent to our culture.
Our salvation lies in our self-reliance, but first, the President must unite Nigerians under a uniform purpose.
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