YOUR LETTER IS OUT OF TUNE WITH REALITY = NIGERIA INFORMATION MINISTER REPLIES US CONGRESSMAN

Alhaji Lai Mohamed, Nigeria Minister of Information

In response to the letter written by Congressman Tom Marino of the US congress, the federal government of Nigeria has responded, saying the congressman who had asked Secretary Kerry to withhold any security assistance to Nigeria until President Muhammadu Buhari demonstrates a “commitment to inclusive government and the most basic tenets of democracy: freedom to assemble and freedom of speech, was out of tune with the reality.

In a two-page letter dated September 1, 2016 and addressed to Kerry, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by THISDAY  Newspaper, Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said there were a number of warning signs emerging in the Buhari administration that signal “the man who once led Nigeria as a military dictator might be sliding towards former autocratic tendencies”.

The Congressman, who is a member of the Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs, and the Chairman, Sub-committee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, said Nigerian government must “hold accountable those members of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Military complicit in extra-judicial killings and war crimes”.

Marino also expressed concern over Nigeria’s anti-corruption war, saying “of additional concern is President Buhari’s selective anti-corruption drive, which has focused almost exclusively on members of the opposition party, over-looking corruption amongst some of Buhari’s closest advisors. Politicizing his anti-corruption efforts has only reinforced hostility among southerners”.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the Nigeria Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, said congressman Marino was poorly informed about the issues he commented on.

He wondered why he did not take the pains to get firsthand information from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria or any other credible source before engaging in what is nothing but a ‘propaganda of his own imagination’.

The minister said: “Insecurity anywhere is insecurity everywhere. Had congressman Marino understood this, he would not have made the kind of call he made concerning the U.S. security assistance to Nigeria.

“The Boko Haram insurgency that Nigeria has decisively dealt with under President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a Nigerian problem but a regional and international crisis”.

The Minister further described congressman Marino’s description of the administration’s anti-corruption efforts as ‘selective’ as a tired argument that clearly shows that the US lawmaker must have appended his signature to someone’s concocted line.

He said Nigeria is delighted that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to whom the congressman addressed his letter, is more knowledgeable, better briefed and definitely more hands on concerning Nigerian issues.