Aug 11, 2015 A U.S. Congressional delegation led by Republican Darrell Issa recently visited Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, to reaffirm the United States commitment to assist Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram.
The delegation said the United States was willing to relax restrictions on Nigeria’s access to weapons from America under the Leahy law; a restriction that caused tension between Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan and the Obama led administration last year.
Republican Darrell Issa , while commenting on the possibility of lifting the restrictions, said:
“It is within this new administration, the house, the senate and the new president, to quickly put behind the questions of human rights abuses in the past. If they do that that will lift the Leahy amendment, no questions at all, so it is within the Nigerian government’s authority and we encourage them to do so and we expect and we were promised that that would happen,”
Amnesty International had earlier accused the Nigerian military of systemic human rights abuses prisoners and called for an investigation into many top military officials, including the army and air force chiefs.
Issa further notified that, as part of the cooperation, the U.S. will provide military training to the Nigerian army and members of the joint task force.
“There are forces from all of your neighbors that are coming together to assist and we will continue to provide some of the most high level surveillance and tactical assistance flown by U.S. to support the hunting down of Boko Haram,” he said.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who was part of the delegation, said that the U.S. will become “solution partners” with Nigeria.
“Whether you have made your trips further north, there are whole towns have been obliterated by Boko Haram. People are displaced with no resources, no civil government, no existence. That’s what I hope the media will capture of our visit and that we have come to be able to be solution partners and that is working with President Buhari,”
President Buhari was in the US recently to further solicit for America’s support in the fight against Boko Haram