Thursday, July 23, 2015
Video - President Muhammadu Buhari says U.S. aiding Boko Haram with arms ban
The US has "aided and abetted" the Boko Haram Islamist militant group by refusing to provide weapons to Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari says.
A US law prevents the government from selling arms to countries which fail to tackle human rights abuses.
Mr Buhari met President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday to seek further assistance.
Boko Haram has killed some 10,000 people since 2009 and has also kidnapped hundreds of girls and women.
Last month, human rights group Amnesty International said that some 8,000 men and boys had died in Nigerian military custody after being detained as suspected militants.
The military rejected this allegation, Nigeria's president promised an investigation but there have been no further details.
The US has previously promised some $5m (£3.2m) in military assistance to the regional coalition helping to fight Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
However, Mr Buhari heavily criticised the US, especially the Leahy Law, which links military sales to human rights.
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," he told the United States Institute of Peace on Wednesday.
"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 the latest suspected Boko Haram attack, at least 29 people were killed in bomb blasts at two bus stations in the north-eastern city of Gombe on Wednesday.
At least 11 people were earlier killed in the Cameroonian town of Maroua, just over the border from Gombe.
Boko Haram last year seized a huge area of north-eastern Nigeria, before being beaten back by a regional coalition, including Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Mr Buhari was elected in March, partly on a pledge to defeat Boko Haram.
BBC
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Video - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari
Secretary Kerry hosts Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for a working lunch at Department of State on July 21, 2015.
Video - President Muhammadu Buhari speaks with CNN's Christiane Amanpour
In an exclusive interview during his visit to America, Muhammadu Buhari speaks with Christiane Amanpour about terrorism, corruption, and his meetings with Obama.
Video - Nigerian artists win big at the 2015 MTV Africa Awards
The South African city of Durban played host to the fifth MTV Africa Music Awards over the weekend.
Hosted by American comedian and actor Anthony Anderson, the ceremony celebrates African music, and most importantly, African youth culture.
President Muhammadu Buhari vows to recover Nigeriai's stolen oil money
The 72-year-old head of state, in Washington for talks with US officials, alleged that 250,000 barrels of crude were being stolen every day, with the profits going into individual bank accounts.
Buhari, a former military ruler, has carved a reputation as a no-nonsense crusader against graft and has vowed the corrupt and corruption "will have no place" in his government.
He told an audience at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington on Tuesday evening that the United States and other countries "are helping us to trace such accounts now".
"We will ask that such accounts be frozen and prosecute the persons. The amount involved is mind-boggling. Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day," he alleged.
"I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them," he said, according to a statement from his spokesman Femi Adesina.
Buhari, in power since May 29, has pinpointed the state-run oil firm as a key culprit in a pervasive culture of corruption, sacked the entire board and ordered an investigation into its finances.
Last year, a political row ensued between his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who alleged $20 billion of oil revenue had gone missing.
The governor, Lamido Sanusi, was later sacked.
Buhari has accused the previous administration of leaving the treasury "virtually empty" and is grappling with how to turn around an oil-dependent economy hit by falling global crude prices.
The focus of looted state revenue has until now been focused on accounts linked to the former military ruler Sani Abacha, who ruled with an iron fist from 1993 until his death in 1998.
Abacha is suspected to have looted the public purse of some $2.2 billion, squirreling away the money in European accounts.
In March last year, the United States said it had ordered a freeze on $458 million in assets stolen by Abacha and his accomplices, calling him "one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory".
Since then, Switzerland has said it will return some $380 million seized in Luxembourg in 2006, after a deal in which Nigeria accepted to drop a case against Abacha's son.
Times Live
Related story: Nigeria's $20 billion oil leak
Buhari, a former military ruler, has carved a reputation as a no-nonsense crusader against graft and has vowed the corrupt and corruption "will have no place" in his government.
He told an audience at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington on Tuesday evening that the United States and other countries "are helping us to trace such accounts now".
"We will ask that such accounts be frozen and prosecute the persons. The amount involved is mind-boggling. Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day," he alleged.
"I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them," he said, according to a statement from his spokesman Femi Adesina.
Buhari, in power since May 29, has pinpointed the state-run oil firm as a key culprit in a pervasive culture of corruption, sacked the entire board and ordered an investigation into its finances.
Last year, a political row ensued between his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who alleged $20 billion of oil revenue had gone missing.
The governor, Lamido Sanusi, was later sacked.
Buhari has accused the previous administration of leaving the treasury "virtually empty" and is grappling with how to turn around an oil-dependent economy hit by falling global crude prices.
The focus of looted state revenue has until now been focused on accounts linked to the former military ruler Sani Abacha, who ruled with an iron fist from 1993 until his death in 1998.
Abacha is suspected to have looted the public purse of some $2.2 billion, squirreling away the money in European accounts.
In March last year, the United States said it had ordered a freeze on $458 million in assets stolen by Abacha and his accomplices, calling him "one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory".
Since then, Switzerland has said it will return some $380 million seized in Luxembourg in 2006, after a deal in which Nigeria accepted to drop a case against Abacha's son.
Times Live
Related story: Nigeria's $20 billion oil leak
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)