Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigeria’s former Minister of External Affairs, has shed more light on allegations that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was involved in arming and funding Boko Haram, the terrorist group responsible for numerous deadly attacks in Nigeria.
Last week, U.S. Congressman Scott Perry claimed during a congressional hearing that USAID had funded Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in foreign countries using American taxpayers’ money. His statement caused a major uproar in Nigeria and beyond, prompting Ali Ndume, a prominent senator from Borno State, to call for an investigation.
Speaking on The Morning Show on Arise News Television, Akinyemi, who recently returned as Chairman of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), revealed that villagers in Boko Haram-affected areas had long reported seeing helicopters piloted by “white men” dropping weapons and cash for the terrorists at night.
He recalled that when he was a member of a committee set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate Boko Haram, they initially believed these foreign operatives were French nationals. However, Perry’s recent revelations had now pointed to U.S. involvement. He suggested that the ultimate objective of such actions might have been to destabilize Nigeria.
“I served on the committee on Boko Haram, and villagers kept telling us that in the middle of the night, helicopters piloted by white people kept landing and offloading guns, goods, and money to these people. Now, villagers didn’t even know who these people were, and they had no reason to lie to us,” Akinyemi said.
He admitted that the committee had made a mistake in assuming the foreign operatives were French. “Now we have an American congressman saying no, it was the Americans who were doing this,” he added.
Akinyemi also linked this to former U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration’s refusal to sell weapons to Nigeria, citing human rights violations in how the military handled Boko Haram. He recalled an incident where Nigeria attempted to purchase arms from South Africa, but someone tipped off the South African authorities, leading to the deal’s collapse.
“It wasn’t Nigeria who tipped off the South Africans. Who tipped them off? You’d have to conclude it was a power with access to intelligence that was able to do that,” he said.
He further claimed that Boko Haram had infiltrated Nigeria’s security forces, making it difficult for soldiers to take action against them. He recounted instances where Nigerian troops had Boko Haram fighters in their sights but were ordered by their superiors not to open fire.
“Behind the scenes, our boys told us that there were times when they would have Boko Haram people in the sight of their guns, and they would now ask their headquarters for permission to open fire, only for their superior officers to tell them to pull back and not open fire,” Akinyemi disclosed.
He suggested that both foreign and local actors were involved in destabilizing Nigeria’s security forces. However, he refrained from naming individuals, though he noted that some Nigerian politicians, including governors, had traveled to the U.S. and engaged with officials from the State Department and the White House.
“Our ambassador there—unfortunately, he’s dead now—wrote reports about the activities of these Nigerians, some of them governors, who were involved with the State Department and the White House,” he said.
Akinyemi also raised questions about how top U.S. officials like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry visited Nigeria but avoided Abuja, instead meeting with political figures in other regions without coordinating with Nigerian authorities.
