President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, in Washington warned that a US refusal to arm his troops because of “so-called human rights violations” only helps Boko Haram insurgents in their quest.
The President left Nigeria with high hopes to reform Africa’s troubled giant basically against the Islamist insurgents who have turned the northeast of his country into a war zone. However, despite being warmly received in the US capital on his debut visit since his March election, he departs with little practical military assistance in his battle against the terror.
Although, the US government has vowed to help Nigeria defeat the insurgency, it further claims it is prohibited under law from sending weapons to countries that fail to tackle human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, President Buhari in his address to an audience of policy-makers, activists and academics in Washington, complained that Nigerian forces had been left “largely impotent” in the face of Boko Haram’s campaign of kidnapping and bombings.
