US Denies Blocking Fg's Purchase Of War Aircraft

The United States embassy in Nigeria has faulted a story of its
purported blocking of the sale of CH-47 Chinook transport aircraft by
the state of Israel to Nigeria.

Responding to the story published by ThisDay newspaper, that the US
had prevented Israel from selling the cargo helicopters to Nigeria,
the embassy's press attaché, Sean J. McIntosh, said his country had a
good diplomatic relationship with Nigeria.

"The United States remains committed to helping the government of
Nigeria address the threat posed by the terrorist organisation Boko
Haram. We continue to support Nigerian efforts to bring about the safe
recovery of the abductees and to advise the government of Nigeria on
its response," he said.

He further added that, "We are advising on issues of survivor support,
humanitarian assistance, criminal investigations, intelligence and
strategic communications."

He, however, declined to give any assurance of a mutual complement of
arms purchase policy that is not in conformity with that of his
country and its interests.

"U.S. Departments of State and Defense review all potential arms
transfers for their consistency with US policy and interests, as
detailed in the US Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, updated by
President Obama in January. This includes any requests for one country
to transfer US-origin defence items to another country," McIntosh
said, emphasising that he could not comment on any specific
application of the policy.

Meanwhile, Mukhtar Dan'Iyan, the editor-in-chief of the 15Past8 Media
Group based in New York City, who is also an expert on Africa and
Middle East policy and security gave his opinion on the matter in a
tweet he posted.

Dan'Iyan wrote, "Israel does not use CH-47 Chinook transport
helicopter, so selling surplus (or any stock) to Nigeria or any other
nation is not even a possibility. The story about USA blocking the
sale of non-existent equipment from Israel is therefore non-sequitur.

"Incidentally, Israel uses the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion as its
heavy transport helicopter, and Boeing would do anything to get that
business for its Chinook," he wrote.

Boko Haram killed 13,000 Nigerians in 5 years - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has in New York, United Statesthat the
Boko Haram sect has killed about 13,000 persons in Nigeria since 2005.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council High-Level Meeting on
the Threat of Terrorism to Global Peace and Security yesterday ,
Jonathan, who urged the international community to act immediately to
stop the troubling new phenomenon of terrorists and foreign fighters
attacking and trying to hold parts of sovereign nations, stated that
there was the need to support countries like Nigeria which are in the
frontline of the war against terrorism.

Informing the UN Security Council that his administration has
continued relentlessly to confront the menace of terrorism with
unrelenting determination, Jonathan said the federal government has
also evolved initiatives to alleviate the plight of people in affected
communities.

He said, "Nigeria knows too well the destructive effects of terrorist
activities. Over the past five years, we have been, and are still
confronting threats posed by Boko Haram to peace and stability
predominantly in the North Eastern part of our country.

"The costs are high: over 13,000 people have been killed, whole
communities razed, and hundreds of persons kidnapped, the most
prominent being our innocent daughters from Chibok Secondary School,
in North East Nigeria.

As daunting as the challenge may be, we have faced it with unrelenting
determination, mobilising all the resources at our disposal to ensure
that the scourge of terrorism is rooted out of our nation.

"In addition to our counterterrorism efforts, we have evolved
initiatives to alleviate the plight of the population in the affected
communities.