Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has accused the United States of being behind Nigeria’s long-standing terrorism crisis.
Omokri made this claim on Monday during an interview on Prime Time, a programme aired on Arise Television.
The political analyst said America’s foreign policy under former President Barack Obama directly triggered the insecurity now ravaging Nigeria and the Sahel region.
“There’s a moral responsibility on the United States because this problem of terrorism was brought to the doorstep of Nigeria by Barack Obama’s administration,” he said.
Omokri explained that the U.S. intervention in Libya led to the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi, which in turn scattered well-armed mercenaries across Africa.
He alleged that many of those fighters found their way into Nigeria, fueling the spread of insurgent groups like Boko Haram.
“If Obama’s administration had not intervened in Libya, Gaddafi wouldn’t have been killed. And if Gaddafi hadn’t been killed and all these foreign mercenaries had not left Libya to come here, there wouldn’t be this terrorism in Nigeria,” he stated.
He further insisted that if the U.S. had not “done what they did in Libya,” countries in the Sahel, including Nigeria, would not be battling constant terrorist attacks.
Omokri, who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan, also acknowledged that former U.S. President Donald Trump took steps to support Nigeria’s military efforts by approving arms sales to the country.
“Nigeria is paying a price for what it didn’t cause. Thankfully, Trump lifted objects and began selling weapons to us, but the US caused these problems, and they need to help us fix them,” he added.