US volunteers to help Nigeria identify the powerful local sponsors of Boko Haram

AMERICA has volunteered to help identify the sponsors of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating across Nigeria in response to a recent revelation by a retired intelligence officer that the Nigerian government is well aware of who they are.

Last week, Retired Commodore Kunle Olawunmi, a retired naval officer and a professor of intelligence and global security studies, alleged that he was member of a committee that interrogated a senior member of this government on a Boko Haram related issue. Speaking on Sunrise Daily a flagship programme of Channels Television, Commodore Olawunmi revealed that President Buhari is fully aware of who these sponsors are and many of them are in his government.

Amid fears that the Nigerian government is now too afraid to name the sponsors, the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, has volunteered to do the identifying. When asked what would the US do to help the country identify the sponsors of terrorism in the country, Ms Leonard said it is something Washington is very eager to partner Nigeria on.

She added: “I have had at least three conversations in the last two months on this subject but I won’t like to go into details. I hear people making the analogy with Afghanistan a lot but 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 as what we have here are two sovereign nations who have had strong bilateral relations, so I don’t actually think the two match up.”

General Jeffrey Harrigian, the commander of the US Air Forces in Europe, added that Nigeria's recent purchase of A-29 Tucano fighter jets was an opportunity to cement the relationship with the US as well as curb insecurity. Nigeria is currently facing its worst security crisis birthed by the activities of terrorists groups and bandits who have been on rampage.

Despite the surrendering of some of the insurgents to Nigerian troops following onslaught against them particularly in the northeast, the security situation in the region has remained unchanged. Kidnapping has also become a thriving industry with even the Nigerian Defence Academy attacked last week, with one officer abducted and killed.