Ex-envoy slams U.S. on arms purchase

USA

Posted by: Vincent Ikuomola

Former Nigerian Consul-General in the United States Joe Keshi has slammed the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle’s statement on the country’s arms purchase blockade by America.
Keshi described Entwistle’s excuse for blocking Nigeria’s arms purchase as “tactless and undiplomatic”.
In a statement, titled: “America-Nigeria troubled relations”, he said it was unfortunate that Entwistle did not understand the seriousness of Nigeria’s security challenges.
Blaming some politicians for trying to discredit the President Goodluck Jonathan administration and create a gulf between Nigeria and America, Keshi said the security challenges make it imperative for Nigerians to protect their country, regardless of their differences.
The former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the American government, which failed in its promise to help Nigeria rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls, should not take a position that could demoralise the Nigerian military or denigrate the Nigerian government.
Describing the American policy as “double faced”, the diplomat said: “No Nigerian should be impressed, misled or fooled by America’s excuses. There are credible evidence from official U.S. records indicating that America has, over the years, executed some of the biggest arms shipments, running into several billions of dollars to countries with abysmal human rights records, including brutal suppression of democratic dissents.
“A number of countries in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, including one whose recent history we all know too well, are beneficiaries of American military support.”
Keshi wondered if America’s refusal to sell arms to Nigeria and its subtle blockade of same by other countries was an indirect way of hastening the fulfillment of a prediction that Nigeria would break up by 2015.
He said: “In comparison, the United States is mobilising global support and spending billions of tax payers’ money in humanitarian and military support to prevent the total disintegration of a region it helped to destabilise.”
On allegations of human rights abuses by Nigerian soldiers, Keshi said the U.S. government has also been accused of gross human rights violations by the Amnesty International. He queried whether “the definition of right and wrong is solely determined by what suits the narrow interest of the American government”.
Keshi hoped that Nigeria would overcome the insecurity in the Northeast. the nation