Good News: US Congress Delegation Meet Buhari (Read What They Discussed)

The United States would soon lift the current arms embargo placed on Nigeria! The Head of a Delegation of the US Congress Committee on Judiciary to the country, Mr. Darrel Issa, said this while speaking with journalists after an indoor meeting with the nation’s defense and military chiefs at the National Defense College, Abuja.

Issa said that the US had commenced the process of lifting the restrictions of the Leahy Law on Nigeria because of the recent moves to professionalize the military by the Chief of Defense Staff, Maj. Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, and the service chiefs.

The Leahy Law is a human rights law of the US, which prevents the US State Department and the Department of Defense from selling arms and ammunition to countries whose military are believed to have committed brazen acts of rights violation.

The refusal of the US government to sell arms to the country because of the Leahy law had made Nigeria under former President Goodluck Jonathan to explore other options, including the Black Market, to get desperately needed arms and ammunition to halt the advances of the Boko Haram insurgents in 2014.

Issa added that most of America’s support for Nigeria in the area of training, technical support and equipment provision was not tied to the Leahy and had not been stopped.

He said that the US was relying on President Muhammadu Buhari and the military chiefs to rebuild the trust of Nigerians in the military as an institution that would protect the citizenry.