US designation of Boko Haram leaders:

US designation of Boko Haram leaders: Nigeria’s sovereignty compromised

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The Action Congress of Nigeria  (ACN) has blamed Nigeria’s leadership for the US’ designation of three leaders of Boko Haram as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, with its implications for Nigeria’s sovereignty.

In a statement issued in Ilesa, Osun State, on Sunday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the Jonathan presidency had virtually surrendered the nation’s sovereignty to the US, if the letter from the Nigerian embassy in Washington begging  Americans not to kill innocent Nigerians, as reported by the media, was anything to go by.

“In what must rank as the most shameful acceptance that it is indeed helpless and hopeless, the Nigerian government, through the nation’s embassy in Washington, has agreed that in line with the declaration, the US government is free to attack the designated Boko Haram leaders even on its (Nigerian) soil.

“To rub salt into Nigeria’s wounds, the government went ahead to beg the US not kill innocent Nigerians in the process of such attacks against the Boko Haram leaders, as contained in the embassy’s letter that reads inter alia: ‘The embassy however wishes to appeal that whatever action is eventually taken against these individuals, their immediate neighbours who have felt the impact most, but are very much vehemently opposed to the activities of Boko Haram, should not be affected,’ ’’ it said.

ACN said while the letter was the clearest indication yet that the nation’s sovereignty had been surrendered to the US, it also showed the naivety of the Jonathan Administration, as innocent people, including women and children, had been mowed down by American drones in such countries as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where such declaration had led the US to strike at a time and place of its own choosing.

“Because of its own incompetence, a government whose rason d’etre is the security and welfare of its citizens has now exposed the same citizens to what Americans call double whammy attacks from Boko Haram and US drones,” the party observed.