The US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, Jonathan Finer, at an event attended by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the terms of the agreement during the sale of the Tucano aircraft explicitly restrict their deployment to the northern part of the country where Boko Haram terrorists have engaged in a decade-long insurgency, killing thousands and displacing millions.
As reported in the Punch, the US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, Jonathan Finer, at an event attended by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the terms of the agreement during the sale of the 12 Tucano aircraft were clearly stated.
Finer said, “We are pleased to deepen our security cooperation with the Nigerian government. I think we made it very clear our expectations about this platform where it would be used and in the right way and we are always raising concerns when we have them and that it’s true with all our security partners around the world.
The Federal Government had proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra in the South-East and despite public outcry, designated the agitation group as terrorists, fueling fears that the Super Tucano might be deployed to harass the residents.
Bandits in Nigeria’s northwest are spared from deployment of the Tucano, being that government is yet to declare them terrorists.
The Federal Government had ordered 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to aid its war against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East. The aircraft were said to have cost $423million.
