GLOBAL attention was on Tuesday afternoon turned on Nigeria as the United States (U.S.) Congress held a special session on terrorism in Nigeria and the activities of the Boko Haram sect. President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who was invited to the session, after listening to the Barack Obama administration reasons for acting minimally on the terror group, said it was the height of hypocrisy for the U.S. government to list three of Boko Haram leaders as terrorists and yet declined to designate it a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). U.S. Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who represented the Obama administration at the hearing, told the Congress that Boko Haram thrived on poverty.
He said: “Boko Haram capitalises on popular frustrations with the nation’s leaders, poor government, ineffective service delivery, and dismal living conditions for many northerners.” Although he repeated U.S. condemnation of Boko Haram attacks, Carson urged the Congress to be cautious, saying “before we prescribe actions, it is important that we understand what Boko Haram is and what it is not.
The truth is that our understanding is limited at best.” The Republican Chairman of the U.S. House Sub-Committee on Africa, Christopher Smith, lampooned the American government for paying lip service to the insurgency in Nigeria.
The Guardian
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