By Iliyasu Gadu, Ilgad2009@gmail.com
08035355706 (Texts only)
Wikipedia describes ‘’Plausible deniability’’ as ‘’the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command (or authority) to deny knowledge and/or responsibility for actions committed by or on behalf of members of their organizational hierachy’’.
Recently American Congressman Scott Perry who represents the 10th district of Pennsylvania revealed in an address to the United States Congress that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was funding terrorist groups around the world which included Boko Haram, the insurgent terrorist group that has been operating for over a decade now in the north-eastern part of the country. Perry while addressing a Congressional session titled ‘’The War on Waste: Stamping out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud’’ asked rhetorically ‘’Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in this room? Because your money, your money, 697 million dollars annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan terrorists training camps. That is what it is funding’’.
Expectedly this revelation by Congressman Perry went through the Nigerian public space like mumps in the throat. The subject of Boko Haram which has engaged the minds of Nigerians for quite some time now as to its origins, funding and raison d’etre had suddenly and unexpectedly been laid bare by no other personality than a senior American politician. Nigerians from the security and law enforcement establishment to government circles, National Assembly and the general folk who have been caught in the web of the brutal operations of Boko Haram terrorist group were outraged that a country like the United States of America whom they regard with utmost reverence and friendliness could be behind such a mindlessly murderous outfit that had laid waste to a huge chunk of the country destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods in the process.
Last week, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills apparently after a series of crises meetings with his team at the US Embassy and following what was possible deluge of back and forth communication traffic with his superiors at the State Department back in Washington D.C was instructed to activate the ‘’Plausible deniability’’ mode in other to squelch any incipient damage Perry’s revelation could do to Nigeria-US relations.
So it was in that mode that Ambassador Mills addressed select groups of Nigerians including the Governors Forum where he sought to deny America’s involvement in funding Boko Haram. The American envoy was reported to have said, ‘’There is no friend of Nigeria that has been stronger in its condemnation of the violence of Boko Haram and Boko Haram contempt for human life than the United States. We labelled Boko Haram since 2013 a foreign terrorist organization, a designation that was designed to block Boko Haram from carrying out any asset transfers to the United States. This allows us to arrest and seize members of Boko Haram, and allows us to cooperate in investigations with the Nigerian government….’’.
To drive home his point Ambassador Mills stated that “I can assure you, we have policies and procedures in place to ensure that USAID funding, any of our assistance funding whether that comes from USAID, the Department of Defence is not diverted to a terrorist group like Boko Haram…’’.
In the light of this the pertinent question being asked by bewildered Nigerians is between Congressman Perry who was emphatic in his statement about American funding for Boko Haram, and Ambassador Mills who sought to deny such, who should we believe?
Both are senior figures of the US government and each is acting within his area of competence on the subject of Boko Haram. And a look at their bona fides would help us to answer the question.
Lousiana born Ambassador Mills is a career US Diplomat whose last post was at the United Nations where he served as Deputy Head of the US Mission. On the Boko Haram issue, he was observing the principle of ‘’Plausible deniability’’ which requires US officials to act out a routine procedure of denying actions taken by US agencies in pursuit of US interests. It is a standard procedure or template developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for especially American Foreign Service officers to lie and deny straight-faced on the involvement of American institutions, officers and figures in activities that may potentially bring America to disrepute.
Congressman Perry who revealed the involvement of the US in Boko Haram, is not only a ranking member of the US Congress serving continuously since 2013, he is a retired Brigadier General of the US National Guard who saw action in Iraq. In addition to appropriating funds the US Congress also has oversight responsibilities over US government agencies and in that regard is entitled to full disclosure on how funds appropriated are spent.
In our current state of confusion about funding of Boko Haram, who should we believe; a ranking US Congressman who participates in the appropriation of funds and oversight functions over agencies like USAID and who also doubles as a retired general of a US military outfit with nous on the type of operation Boko Haram engages in, or an official who just recently got posted to Nigeria and regardless of whether he is in the know or not, he is expected to plausibly deny US involvement in Boko Haram?
Indeed one fact rings clear; Nigerians do know that Boko Haram from its modus of operation and equipment as well as ability to sustain itself all these past 15 years could only have been funded by a foreign power or powers. The Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa who was also a former theatre Commander of operations in the Boko Haram area in a recent interview disclosed that from the sophisticated weaponry recovered from captured operatives, to their intelligence nous and the huge amount of monies found in their possession, Boko Haram could only have been receiving support from foreign sources. The telling evidence of foreign involvement is found in the activities of NGOs who decline to disclose their movements and who were discovered to have made long term plans to stay in the area.
We also know from the statements by former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs Professor Bolaji Akinyemi who was a member of the Boko Haram Committee set up by President Jonathan that inhabitants of the area told the Committee of seeing helicopters piloted by White men often surreptitiously dropping items in strategic locations.
The question then is; what was the funding of Boko Haram intended to achieve and who had the kind of resources to sustain the Boko Haram operation?
Way back over 10 years ago we already knew of a US Intelligence estimate which concluded that Nigeria was going to disintegrate in 2015. And this will be brought about irreconcilable national contradictions. With the benefit of hindsight it has come to light that the deliberately well-publicised US intelligence estimate was a red herring for regime change being planned to oust President Goodluck Jonathan by the Obama administration. The Boko Haram issue which became the albatross of the Jonathan administration was the red flag used in this regard. The sophisticated operation of delivering supplies using low-flying, radar-evading stealth aircrafts as well as deployment of NGO’s can only be facilitated and funded by a foreign power.
Now that a sea change of government has come in the United States with the election of Donald Trump and his stated determination to investigate into what happened to US funding of aid programmes abroad, it has now been revealed that indeed as we have always suspected Boko Haram was funded by the US through USAID.
Now that the National Assembly has launched an investigation into the issue, it behoves on the US to cooperate fully with Nigeria as we begin to unravel this matter. Nigeria has lost hundreds of thousands of people and their livelihoods. We have lost countless soldiers and military personnel among whom are some of our finest, brave young officers.
As a friend of Nigeria as the US Ambassador claims his country is, the US must not only cooperate fully in the investigation, it must set aside a special reconstruction and rehabilitation fund to help restore the area which the USAID aided Boko Haram ravaged.
Iliyasu Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is a columnist with Daily Trust