Top US General claims al-Qaida is infiltrating Nigeria.... FGN yet to react

                            

   

President Buhari or the National Security Adviser or spokesperson is yet to respond to claim that by Major General Dagvin R.M. Anderson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa that al-Qaida has started to make in roads in Nigeria. Major General Anderson made the statement on Wednesday during a digital press briefing on U.S. partnerships with African nations to reduce extremism, combat terrorist organizations, and bring about peace and prosperity throughout the African continent.

Responding to the questions from  Mr. Immanuel Odeyemi of Classic FM, Nigeria, the other from Mr. Bola Olajuwon from The Nation, Nigeria.  They ask,- “How much is being committed to the fight against terror since the onset of the pandemic and beyond?”  And, “With the current COVID-19 pandemic globally, how would you describe U.S. partnership with African governments in the area of tackling terrorism and insecurity?”

Also joined was question from Mr. Innocent Odoh - “It’s very disturbing that despite the U.S. multiple levels of assistance in Nigeria, violent extremism and terrorism continue to ravage the country with a surge in deaths and destruction.  Why does the partnership with the U.S. appear to be failing Nigeria?”

General Anderson stated:

"More directly to his point, we have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing, and that has been absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno State and into an emerging area of northwest Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaida starting to make some inroads in.  So this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we stay fully engaged with the Government of Nigeria to provide them an understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing, what ISIS-West Africa is doing, and how ISIS and al-Qaida are looking to expand further south into the littoral areas."

"So these are all places where we stay engaged and we stay in great partnership with Nigeria, but I share the – and I can’t remember who asked the question, unfortunately, but I share sentiment that it is quite disturbing that despite all this assistance, the VEOs are continuing to make progress and continuing to be a threat.  I think there’s two factors in that.  One, it goes to that each government has to focus on this and provide that focus for international partners to engage with.  The other partner – the other part of this is we can’t underestimate the threat these violent extremist organizations pose.  We, as a community of international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.  I think after 20 years we have seen they are very resilient organizations that, although small, they’re able to leverage social media and other forms of media to have an outsized voice and that they continue to recruit and they continue to find opportunities."

"And so they have evolved.  What they were in the ’90s and what they preyed upon in the ’90s is different than what we saw in the 2000s in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, and now as we see them come back into Africa and engage more in Africa, we see them exploit other grievances and other divides.  So we see them being very resilient, creative, and flexible.  So I’d ask all of the partners, all of our partners, not to underestimate the threat and not to underestimate what they’re capable of doing and that they are very patient and that they are willing to look for opportunities as they emerge.  So you can’t just say ‘we’ve defeated them,’ you have to continue to address weaknesses and places where these terrorist groups can – that they can exploit"