Nigeria can seek support elsewhere, academic don reacts to arms blockade by US

A Professor of International Relations, Hassan Saliu, has asked Nigeria to seek help elsewhere over the blockade of arms sale by the US.

Daily Trust had reported how US lawmakers blocked the sale of some attack helicopters to Nigeria over purported poor human rights record of the Buhari administration.

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The deal worth $875 million for the sale of 12 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and accompanying defence systems for the Nigerian military are reportedly being blocked by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

In a chat with Daily Trust, Saliu said foreign countries are not always comfortable with countries with questionable human rights records.

“It is one thing for that country to claim it has good human rights records, it is another thing for America to be in agreement and since America has the hardware, there is nothing we can do.”

“In a nutshell, this is a reflection of our level of relationship with the western world. But America has the right to decide who to give their support to and Nigeria also has the right to seek support from anywhere.

“But it is an age-long tradition that any country perceived by America not to be respecting human rights would have difficulty in assessing American military support.”

He asked the Nigerian government to “look into some of these things and get them sorted out in a manner that would not jeopardize Nigeria’s national interest.”