US senator calls Nigerians soldiers fighting the Boko in North-Eastern Nigeria "Rapist"
Mohammadu
Buhari criticized the Leahy Law in the US days ago while on a visit to the US and indirectly charged the US
for aiding and Abetting Boko Haram (read Here). The Leahy Law is a US human
right Law that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defense
from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violates
Human rights. Senator Patrick Leahy which the Law is named after while speaking
says
“It is well-documented by the State
Department and by respected human rights organisations that Nigerian army
personnel have, for many years, engaged in a pattern and practice of gross
violations of human rights against the Nigerian people and others, including
summary executions of prisoners, indiscriminate attacks against civilians,
torture, forced disappearances and rape.
Rarely have the perpetrators been prosecuted or punished. This abusive conduct not only violates the laws of war, it creates fear and loathing among the Nigerian people whose support is necessary to defeat a terrorist group like Boko Haram President Buhari ignores the undisputed fact that most Nigerian army units have been approved, under the Leahy Law, for U.S. training and equipment.
Only those particular units against
which there is credible evidence of the most heinous crimes are ineligible for
U.S. aid. And even those units can again become eligible if the Nigerian
Government takes effective steps to bring the responsible individuals to
justice. I strongly agree with President Buhari about the need to defeat Boko
Haram, and I have supported tens of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Nigeria
for that purpose. But rather than suggest that the United States is at fault
for not funding murderers and rapists in the Nigerian military, he should face
up to his own responsibility to effectively counter Boko Haram. He should
direct his attention to the Nigerian military, and the Nigerian courts, and
clean up the units implicated in such atrocities”
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