FG Tasked On Probe Of Alleged USAID Funding Of Boko Haram

The federal government has been charged to properly investigate allegations that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding terrorism in Nigeria.

A renowned legal practitioner and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti state, Mr Owoseni Ajayi, who gave the advice, said taking such action will help unravel those fuelling terrorism and banditry in the country.

Recall that a Congressman in the United States, Scott Perry, had claimed that USAID is sponsoring Boko Haram.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Ado Ekiti, Owoseni, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ado Ekiti branch, posited that the development is already negatively affecting foreign aid and support to the nation.

He said it was good that the Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume, who described it as a weighty allegation that cannot be waved aside, raised it on the floor of the Senate, which had summoned the security and intelligence chiefs to take action on the matter.

He said, “The federal government should properly probe these things so that these issues that have been hanging as debacles on the neck of Nigeria all these years are unravelling.

“I therefore aligned myself with Senator Ndume’s suggestion. They should investigate the matter. It cannot be resolved on the issue of speculation or a mere dismissal.

“It should not be limited to that; the National Security Advisor (NSA) should also set up a committee to investigate the matter. I also heard a top security chief making a similar insinuation that some the Non -Governmental Organizations (NGOs) do collect money from foreign bodies under the guise of assisting the displaced persons in the war-ravaged zones only to channel it to banditry funding to perpetrate more harm to the country. Therefore, the matter should be looked into appropriately because it has become a concern.

“How are they getting arms more sophisticated than what our security agents have to fight their unreasonable war? How do they get them, and who is sponsoring them? In addition, do they even get money to pay the legion of people in the forest with them, such that people prefer to enlist in their army in the forest rather than the regular army? ‘So, there is the need for all of these to be investigated.’’