Friday - March 27, 2015

Throwing Nigeria Under The Bus

Must Read links to three posts that show how US foreign policy has shifted to destroy Nigeria and Christian President Goodluck Jonathan, while David Axelrod’s goons push militant islamist communist candidate General. Muhammadu Buhari.

A political consulting firm founded by Obama administration confidante David Axelrod has been far more involved in backing controversial Nigerian presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari than previously disclosed, according to a series of emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and interviews with sources on the ground.

Axelrod’s firm, the Chicago-based AKPD, has admitted to doing work on behalf of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the past, but claimed to have ceased its ties in March 2014 after the Islamist terror group Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.

However, emails sent between senior APC party members and advisers show that contrary to the firm’s claims, AKPD has quietly continued to perform political work on Buhari’s behalf as he fights to unseat current President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sources on the ground in Nigeria and familiar with how the elections have been shaping up say Buhari has run an uncharacteristically disciplined campaign.

“They have run … a well disciplined message campaign, running on a clear and singular message of change,” said one source who agreed to discuss the matter only on background. “It sounds very familiar to another campaign some Americans might remember from seven years ago.”

While the APC has had trouble displaying unity in past election bids, the current campaign has showed few signs of dissent, the source explained.

“It strongly points to coaching they ordinarily would not have had in past elections,” according to the source. “That’s really the clearest sign that I’ve seen and other have seen that these guys are running a Western-style, Western-directed campaign that has identified a message through polling and research.”

While Buhari has positioned himself as an agent of change, critics point to his controversial and oppressive rule over Nigeria in the 1980s.

Buhari’s military government was known for harshly cracking down on civil rights, arresting opposition forces, and intimidating critical journalists. Human rights activists routinely criticized Buhari’s military rule. Buhari was deposed in a 1985 coup.

When the notorious Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, kidnapped 278 school girls from the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria last year, Michelle Obama began a Twitter hashtag campaign, #BringBackOurGirls. But behind the scenes, the Obama administration was undermining Nigeria’s efforts to take the battle to the terrorists. Obama refused to sell Nigeria arms and supplies critical to the fight, and stepped in to block other Western allies from doing so. The administration also denied Nigeria intelligence on Boko Haram from drones operating in the area. While Boko Haram was kidnapping school girls, the U.S. cut petroleum purchases from Nigeria to zero, plunging the nation’s economy into turmoil and raising concerns about its ability to fund its battle against the terrorists. Nigeria responded by cancelling a military training agreement between the two countries.

The Nigerian presidential election is coming up Saturday, March 28, 2015. AKPD, the political consulting group founded by Obama confidante David Axelrod, is assisting Retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim presidential candidate from Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram was spawned and wields the most influence. Buhari is well-known throughout the country, having led as “Head-of-State” following a military coup in 1983. He was dislodged following another coup in 1985.

Nigerian officials seeking to purchase weapons, especially Cobra attack helicopters, were outraged at Obama’s refusal to allow these transactions. Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S., Professor Adebowale Adefuye, stated publicly that:

The U.S. government has up till today refused to grant Nigeria’s request to purchase lethal equipment that would have brought down the terrorists within a short time on the basis of the allegations that Nigeria’s defence forces have been violating human rights of Boko Haram suspects when captured or arrested.

We find it difficult to understand how and why, in spite of the U.S. presence in Nigeria, with their sophisticated military technology, Boko Haram should be expanding and becoming more deadly.

Another official quoted in the Nigerian newspaper ThisDay, stated:

The U.S. government has frustrated Nigeria all the way in our war against terrorism despite its public statements in support of Nigeria, as it fights the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east… They want us to fight Boko Haram with our arms tied to our backs.

They have blocked us from procuring the helicopters and would not provide us with intelligence despite the fact that they have several drones and sophisticated aircraft overflying the North-east of Nigeria from bases in Niger and Chad where the Boko Haram fighters and movements are clearly in their sights.

Retired Col. Abubakar Umar, a former military governor, concluded that the Americans “have decided to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Nigeria.”

According to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, more than 13,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency since 2009. Some estimates put the carnage as high as 17,000 deaths.

Between July 2013 and June 2014 alone, an estimated 7,000 people died in incidents related to the insurgency. Boko Haram – which means “Western education is forbidden” – recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.

When these formidable jihadists rampaged through Nigeria, last year – kidnapping schoolgirls, slaughtering Christians, and burning down churches, the Obama administration’s primary response was a hash-tag campaign on Twitter. If the besieged people of Nigeria expected more than lip service from the United States in their battle against Boko Haram in the days and weeks that came, they were sorely mistaken. They got bupkis.

Clearly, a more serious response than #BringBackOurGirls was needed to combat the growing menace – but the United States all but abandoned their African ally.  Not only did the Obama Regime refused to sell Nigeria the arms it needed to fight Boko Haram, it blocked other Western allies from helping them, too.

Oh, and don’t forget the crazy Tuareg almost right next door in Mali, killing, rampaging, and taking slaves left and right as they set up their own African Caliphate ... and they’re now armed to the teeth with tons of weapons stolen from the fall of Libya. A fall enabled for no visible reason by pResident Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, deposing a quiescent dictator and plunging that nation into complete and unending fratricidal chaos. And this was before Boko Haram, and before Mali. Almost seems like they found the right domino and just gave it a kick. And then they just walked away.

The Tuareg have won in Mali. A treaty is being signed that gives them their caliphate, a Texas sized chunk of land they’re calling  Asswad  Azawad.

Ethnic divisions run deep in the northern desert, the cradle of a Tuareg separatist movement which has spawned several rebellions since the 1960s.

The 30-page peace agreement calls for “reconstruction of the country’s national unity” in a way that “respects its territorial integrity and takes account of its ethnic and cultural diversity”.

In deference to the concerns of the government about separatism, it does not use the word autonomy in setting out the powers the region will enjoy.

It proposes the creation of powerful elected regional assemblies led by a directly elected president, as well as “greater representation of the northern populations in national institutions”.

From 2018, the government will set up a “mechanism to transfer 30 percent of budget revenues from the state to local authorities… with particular attention to the North”.

This may seem rather innocuous, but the northern half of Mali is pretty much empty. Nobody lives there. No cities, no towns, no roads, no lakes, no farms. Just wildmen. Tuaregs. So 30% of the national revenue, even in poverty stricken Mali, is some major Danegeld. Tribute. Protection money.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/27/2015 at 07:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Africa • Obama, The One •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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