Nigerian Army Chief Allays Fears Over U.S. Military Presence in Gulf of Guinea

Madu Onuorah, Nigerian Guardian.

Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, yesterday explained that Nigeria was not threatened by the presence of United States (U.S.) troops in the Gulf of Guinea.

Azazi disclosed that the US troops’ interest in the Gulf of Guinea was to ensure that “there is relative peace in that environment for the business of oil to go on.”

The defence chief, at a media forum in Abuja, also ruled out any military intervention in politics, insisting that the military had been “completely de-politicised.”

His words: “First of all, I’ll like to ask: Are we worried about U.S. invasion of Nigeria or any country in the Gulf of Guinea? I want to believe that wherever the U.S. has some business, they want relative peace to undertake their business.

“Anywhere you are talking of defence of an environment, it is a cooperative venture. So would it be wrong if you say U.S. troops are interested in the Gulf of Guinea because they want to make sure that as we undertake the normal business of oil exploration, there is relative peace in that environment for everybody to partake? Of course, we have the Gulf of Guinea Commission and all the nations in the Gulf of Guinea are involved and we have stakeholders from outside Africa who are involved.

“So I think it (U.S. troops presence) is in the interest of ensuring that there is relative peace in that environment for the business of oil to go on.”

Lamenting what he called the decay in military infrastructure in the country, Azazi said it was impossible for the government to provide all the equipment needed by the Armed Forces to carry out their responsibilities because other sectors of the economy also required urgent attention.

He said: “If today the nation decides that we are going to meet all military demands, I’ll sleep in peace. But then, there are other contending demands. Buying military equipment is very expensive. We try to make do with what the country can afford and we try to be judicious about it.”

He also spoke on the killings of seven Nigerian soldiers on peace-keeping mission in Darfur, disclosing that the Sudanese government had not briefed the Nigerian government on which rebel group should be held liable for the attack.

He emphasised that the Sudanese government was not involved in the attack.

His words: “Peace-keeping is not a military problem but a national problem. We should look at it as an all-inclusive policy. Nigeria as a nation is committed to global security and the government does not commit only soldiers; even journalists and civilians have been involved.

“Nigeria is not in charge of Darfur. It is only part of the African peace-keeping force. Today, we have not been told who was involved in the killings and the Sudanese government has not come out with any statement. What we know is that the Sudanese government is not responsible for the killing of the soldiers. A rebel group is responsible.”

Source: Nigerian Guardian.