America Not Nigeria's Friend On Boko Haram, Gowon Declares

A former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon
(retd.), has explained why the United States
of America should not been seen as Nigeria's
partner in the fight against the Boko Haram
insurgency.
Gowon, in an interview with Punch newspaper
published on Sunday, 30 November, 2014,
condemned the US for not selling military hardware
to Nigeria to fight the Islamist militants who have
been wreaking havocs across Nigeria.
The former Head of State, while taking a swipe at
the United States on its refusal to sell arms to
Nigeria to fight the Islamic group, stated that if the
US was truly a diplomatic friend to Nigeria, it should
do everything possible to keep the corporate
existence of Nigeria.
The US had on November 12, 2014, defended its
refusal to sell cobra helicopters to Nigeria, saying
the Federal Government was free to buy fighter jets
from any other country.
Gowon however, alleged that the US did same to the
Nigerian government during the Civil War, when it
refused to sell fighter jets to Nigeria to stop Biafra's
bomber jets.
He said, "The same thing happened during the Civil
War. The Americas refused to sell arms to us. I
wanted them to help me with some modest aircraft
so that I could chase out Ojukwu's (Col. Odumegwu
Ojukwu) B52 or B56 as they called it. That was all I
wanted; not to shoot it down but to chase it away so
that it does not drop bombs and kill innocent
people.
"But the Americans refused to help us and they
even refused to sell arms and ammunitions and the
spare parts of the equipment that we got from
them. And at the same time, they (America) were
shipping aircraft and loads of arms and ammunition
to Zaire. What sort of friends are they?
"You call them your friends and they say that they
are helping us to fight terror. We don't want their
people (Americans) to come and fight the war
(against Boko Haram) for us but, at least, we need
the equipment.
"During my time (as Head of State), I had to go to
the Russians to get the equipment we wanted in
order to prosecute that war. If they cannot help us,
they should allow us to go elsewhere and get what
we want to ensure that we deal with this particular
problem."

Posted By David Aniemeka