The Chief of Defence Standards and Evaluations at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Major General Adekunle Ariyibi says foreign collaborators are funding Boko Haram and other terrorists.
Ariyibi stated this when he appeared on Channels TV today February 17. According to him, Boko Haram and Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP)’s foreign backing is one of the reasons the war against terrorism has lingered in Nigeria.
“There’s no doubt about it that this sort of operation cannot be sustainable for the past 15 years without some sort of external collaboration and assistance. It’s obvious that the operations of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) have metamorphized since their allegiance with ISIS, and they have had access to international funding which is beyond the shores of Nigeria. It’s obvious in the calibre of weapons you see them display. It’s obvious in the sort of sustainability plans that they have. Right now, they are moving into drones and not only surveillance drones but also drones that can deliver leather weaponry.”
His assertion comes a few days after a US Congressman Scott Perry said that the aborted United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded terrorist bodies such as Boko Haram.
That comment has continued to steer debates in Nigeria and beyond, and General Ariyibi agrees that such terrorist organisations have foreign backers.
“So, there’s no doubt about it that this is the lifeline which is sustaining these operations beyond the local collections that they make on taxing and all of that.
You can’t say it’s just an allegation; it’s more than that,” a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics. “That’s why the Nigerian government and the National Assembly, especially, need to look into it to investigate and verify the veracity of such a very weighty allegation.”