The Nigerian government has been obliged to buy black-market weapons to fight Boko Haram because the West refused to give it any military help, a prominent member of Nigeria\u2019s ruling party says.<\/p>\n
Nuhu Ribadu, a former Nigerian anti-corruption czar who is now a star candidate for the ruling party in a northern state where the Islamist radical militia has wreaked havoc, said Nigeria was \u201cdesperate\u201d for military supplies and had to turn to the black market because Western governments were unwilling to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world might regard this as illegal, but we were being stopped from getting help and our people were being slaughtered,\u201d Mr. Ribadu told The Globe and Mail on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were being wiped out, and the world didn\u2019t give a damn. Nigeria was forced into the black market.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States and other countries, including Canada, had promised to provide surveillance equipment to help Nigeria search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last year, but they broke their promises, Mr. Ribadu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did not give us anything,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just niceties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suspicions of black-market weapons-buying have been floating around Nigeria since last September, when South Africa detained a mysterious Nigerian plane carrying $9.3-million (U.S.) in cash. Media reports at the time said the money was intended for illicit arms purchases.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ribadu acknowledged that Nigerian authorities had \u201cgotten into trouble\u201d when they shopped for weapons on the black market, including in South Africa. \u201cThey were looking for tools of war from anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, South African media reported that 100 private \u201cmilitary experts\u201d from South Africa are heading to Nigeria on a contract with the Nigerian government to train its soldiers to fight Boko Haram. The South African government responded by describing the former South African soldiers as \u201cmercenaries\u201d who would be arrested when they returned home.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ribadu said he could not give details of Nigeria\u2019s black-market arms purchases. \u201cThe world arms market is a very murky one,\u201d he said. \u201cThe arms could come from anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the black-market weapons have helped Nigerian troops regain control of several towns Boko Haram had captured in Adamawa, the state where he is running for governor as the candidate of the ruling People\u2019s Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t have enough bullets, and now they have enough,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are some helicopter gunships that they have bought recently. I have heard them moving around.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States and other Western countries have been reluctant to send military aid to Nigeria because of concerns about corruption and human-rights abuses by Nigeria\u2019s army. Human rights groups have alleged that the Nigerian military routinely commits atrocities in the northeast of the country.<\/p>\n
Last August, for example, Amnesty International said it had seen \u201cgruesome footage\u201d of Nigerian soldiers slitting the throats of detainees and dumping them in mass graves.<\/p>\n
But these allegations of human rights violations have demoralized the army and indirectly helped Boko Haram, according to Mr. Ribadu.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the African Union endorsed a plan to create a West African task force of 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram. Soldiers from Chad are already reported to be active in battling the Islamist militants near Nigeria\u2019s border with Cameroon.<\/p>\n
In the past, Nigeria rejected the idea that it needed foreign military help. But now it seems to have accepted the military support from its West African neighbours. \u201cIt\u2019s only fair and right that others should come in and support us,\u201d Mr. Ribadu said. \u201cWe never got the assistance that Iraq and Afghanistan are getting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian government has been obliged to buy black-market weapons to fight Boko Haram because the West refused to give it any military help, a prominent member of Nigeria\u2019s ruling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n