The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has appealed to the United States government to renew its cooperation with Nigeria in the fight against terrorism, stressing the need for continued partnership to achieve lasting peace in the country.
The position was made known in a press release issued by the Federal Ministry of Information on Tuesday following Idris’s interview on the UK-based Sky News programme, The World With Yalda Hakim.
“What we are saying is that, yes, indeed, the situation is there, we have conflict in Nigeria, we have a security situation in Nigeria, but in the past the United States government has helped Nigerian authorities to deal with this situation; so we are calling on them to partner with us once again, to help push this, and then we have peace once and for all in our country,” said Idris.
The minister disclosed that diplomatic channels between Abuja and Washington were working effectively to ease the growing tension sparked by reports suggesting that the US might deploy troops to Nigeria under the pretext of addressing alleged religious killings.
“Channels of communication have been opened, I can confirm that; we are talking to them, and I think they are understanding the situation better. We believe that most of the information is a result of a lack of a proper understanding of the diversity and complexity of the problem we have at hand,” he said.
Idris linked part of the misinformation in the US to activities of lobbyists connected with a proscribed separatist group in Nigeria. “Let me also put it out there that we are seeing a direct connection between (US) lobbyists and (a) proscribed terrorist organization in Nigeria, and we have seen how they have set up this lobby in the US, contacting high-up people in the United States to help them to lobby,” he stated.
He expressed Nigeria’s concern over some figures being circulated by American agencies and organisations, saying they were based on questionable data. “Some of the assumptions are based on data that largely cannot stand any scientific scrutiny,” Idris observed.
The minister reiterated that Nigeria’s constitution guarantees religious freedom and that the ongoing conflicts in some parts of the country are not driven by religious persecution. “We want to tell the world that this is not the case, and to appeal to them, (that) we share the concern of people from our country, and we also share the concern of the international community, including the United States, about some of these killings going on. But what we want at this point is an understanding of the diversity and the complexity of the situation,” he said.
