US Denies Blocking Fg’s Purchase Of War Aircraft.

The United States embassy in Nigeria has faulted a story of its purported blocking of the sale of CH-47 Chinook transport aircraft by the state of Israel to Nigeria.
Responding to the story published by ThisDay newspaper, that the US had prevented Israel from selling the cargo helicopters to Nigeria, the embassy’s press attaché, Sean J. McIntosh, said his country had a good diplomatic relationship with Nigeria.

“The United States remains committed to helping the government of Nigeria address the threat posed by the terrorist organisation Boko Haram. We continue to support Nigerian efforts to bring about the safe recovery of the abductees and to advise the government of Nigeria on its response,” he said.
He further added that, “We are advising on issues of survivor support, humanitarian assistance, criminal investigations, intelligence and strategic communications.”
He, however, declined to give any assurance of a mutual complement of arms purchase policy that is not in conformity with that of his country and its interests.
“U.S. Departments of State and Defense review all potential arms transfers for their consistency with US policy and interests, as detailed in the US Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, updated by President Obama in January. This includes any requests for one country to transfer US-origin defence items to another country,” McIntosh said, emphasising that he could not comment on any specific application of the policy.
Meanwhile, Mukhtar Dan’Iyan, the editor-in-chief of the 15Past8 Media Group based in New York City, who is also an expert on Africa and Middle East policy and security gave his opinion on the matter in a tweet he posted.

Dan’Iyan wrote, “Israel does not use CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, so selling surplus (or any stock) to Nigeria or any other nation is not even a possibility. The story about USA blocking the sale of non-existent equipment from Israel is therefore non-sequitur.
“Incidentally, Israel uses the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion as its heavy transport helicopter, and Boeing would do anything to get that business for its Chinook,” he wrote.
Boko Haram killed 13,000 Nigerians in 5 years – Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan has in New York, United Statesthat the Boko Haram sect has killed about 13,000 persons in Nigeria since 2005.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council High-Level Meeting on the Threat of Terrorism to Global Peace and Security yesterday , Jonathan, who urged the international community to act immediately to stop the troubling new phenomenon of terrorists and foreign fighters attacking and trying to hold parts of sovereign nations, stated that there was the need to support countries like Nigeria which are in the frontline of the war against terrorism.
Informing the UN Security Council that his administration has continued relentlessly to confront the menace of terrorism with unrelenting determination, Jonathan said the federal government has also evolved initiatives to alleviate the plight of people in affected communities.
He said, “Nigeria knows too well the destructive effects of terrorist activities. Over the past five years, we have been, and are still confronting threats posed by Boko Haram to peace and stability predominantly in the North Eastern part of our country.

“The costs are high: over 13,000 people have been killed, whole communities razed, and hundreds of persons kidnapped, the most prominent being our innocent daughters from Chibok Secondary School, in North East Nigeria.
As daunting as the challenge may be, we have faced it with unrelenting determination, mobilising all the resources at our disposal to ensure that the scourge of terrorism is rooted out of our nation.
“In addition to our counterterrorism efforts, we have evolved initiatives to alleviate the plight of the population in the affected communities. These include a holistic effort through the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) which is aimed at providing immediate relief and fast tracking the infrastructural re-development of the region. It also has as a core goal, an integrated effort at achieving the de-radicalisation of potential terrorist recruits.
“We have also launched a Victims Support Fund which has already raised about $500million of the expected minimum of $1billion in direct support of the victims of acts of terrorism. This is in addition to the. Safe Schools Initiative championed by Mr. Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and currently the UN Special Envoy for Global Education which is being rigorously supported by Nigeria’s Federal Government”.

Jonathan further urged the international community must also do more to support countries like Nigeria which are in the frontline of the war against terrorism.
He said, “There is no doubt that foreign fighters have added a troubling dimension to this emerging phase of terrorism. From targeted attacks by Al Qaeda a few years ago, we now have mobile bands of thousands of terrorists sweeping across vast areas, destroying lives, and even attempting to hold territory. This is unacceptable; we must act now.

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