US administration was publicly accused by American media of ignoring requests by Nigeria for intelligence information and aid to fight Boko Haram insurgents in 2013.
While last week the US side actively joined the abducted girlsfind and rescue operation, ABC News and the Daily Beast said Obama's administration had previously failed to reply to the requests by lobbying firm Patton Boggs on behalf of the Nigerian government.
US Senator John McCain was quoted saying last week to CNN:
"We should have utilized every asset that we have, satellite, drones, any capabilities that we had to go after them. We didn’t have to wait until a practically non-existent government of Nigeria gave us the go-ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those 276 abducted girls."
However, according to the mentioned sources, 2 months before Boko Haram was designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US, "the Nigerian government reportedly reached a three million dollar agreement with lobbying firm Patton Boggs. It was derived from the U.S. Justice Department documents that the contract was to"provide comprehensive security advice, including the donation of excess military and law enforcement equipment".
Patton Boggs assigned retired Marine Colonel John Garrett to represent Nigeria’s requests. It was revealed that on behalf of Nigerian National Security Adviser, Muhammadu Sambo Dasuki, Garrett requested information on insurgents' activities derived from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance overflights of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state.
They also asked for non-lethal protective hardware to be donated to Nigeria such as mine-resistant armored personnel vehicles, night vision goggles and communications equipment from Iraq and Afghanistan stockpiles left over from U.S. withdrawals from those warzones.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/66099.html
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