NIGERIAN MINISTER DROPS BOKO HARAM USAID BOMBSHELL

On 18 February, former Nigerian Foreign Minister Bolaji Akinyemi dropped a bombshell amidst revelations that the recently dismantled US International Agency for Development (USAID) had allegedly been funding t*rrorist groups like Boko Haram.

Akinyemi told Nigerian TV network Arise News that during an investigation into Boko Haram's reign of terror in northeastern Nigeria, villagers reported seeing foreign pilots operating helicopters that delivered weapons and supplies to the insurgents.

During a congressional Oversight and Accountability Committee meeting on 13 February, US Congressman Scott Perry accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of financing terrorist organisations. He claimed that the US funnelled nearly $697 million into initiatives that supported militant factions worldwide. Perry asserted that USAID's funds, allegedly intended for humanitarian and educational purposes, had been directed to finance madrassas (Arabic for ‘school,’ though often referring to Islamic institutions), t*rrorist training facilities, and extremist groups like Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

On 19 February, the US embassy in Nigeria issued a statement that the US had officially designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on 14 November 2013, including freezing its assets.

Akinyemi, who returned to academia after his time as foreign minister (1985-87), said the Obama administration tied Nigeria’s hands in the fight against t*rrorism when it refused to sell arms to Nigeria in 2014, citing concerns over human rights violations by the Nigerian military in its fight against Boko Haram. In July 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari accused the US of indirectly supporting Boko Haram's extremist agenda by invoking the Leahy Law, which restricts arms sales to militaries accused of human rights abuses.

Boko Haram has been active since 2009, aiming to overthrow the Nigerian government and impose a radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, whilst displacing 2.4 million people in the broader region.

Video credit: @AriseTV (X)

Sources:

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