Following revelations made by US Congressman Scott Perry that aborted United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded terrorist organizations, including Boko Haram, the lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume, has asked the Federal Government to investigate this claim.
The legislator stated that there were allegations that assistance agencies in Nigeria’s insurgent-ridden North-East zone financed terrorist activities.
“You can’t say it’s just an allegation; it’s more than that,” the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Army said in a Television programme.
“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.”
The lawmaker, who has served in the National Assembly for more than 20 years, said the Nigerian government should be interested in the US congressman’s revelation, given that there had been suspicions that foreign humanitarian agencies operating in Nigeria’s insurgent-infested North-East zone supported terrorist activities.
Ndume alluded that this development is very worrisome, especially because one of the terrorist organizations mentioned by Scott Perry is Boko Haram, and Boko Haram has ravaged not only the North-East but even (other parts of) Nigeria.
“You can remember Boko Haram bombed the police headquarters and the UN office in Abuja, and the casualties were enormous. So, the Nigerian government must be interested.
“I’m worried, but the Nigerian security agencies have raised this indirectly several times. Even the Borno State government was wary of the operations of the NGOs.
“I remember during the period of (Lieutenant General Tukur) Buratai, the Nigerian Army got intelligence and even raided the office of USAID or United Nations in Maiduguri. There was also a time when the governor got intelligence, and security agencies raided one NGO that was providing training to some of their staff on how to use guns.
He added that Nigeria have been wondering over the years where these terrorist groups get their money from.
