DEJA VU: US lawmakers block proposed arms sale to Nigeria amidst Twitter ban, #ENDSARS abuses, and human rights concerns

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez. Credit... Michael Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Top bipartisan lawmakers in the US Senate are blocking a proposed sale of 12 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and accompanying defense systems to the Nigerian military, a potential deal worth about $875 million, in a bid to pressure the Biden Administration to rethink US-Nigeria relations, according to U.S. officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter, says a report by Foreign Policy.

Sen. Bob Menendez, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the committee, have placed a hold behind the scenes on the sale which also includes 28 helicopter engines, 14 military-grade aircraft navigation systems, and 2,000 advanced precision kill weapon systems-laser-guided rocket munitions, according to information sent by the State Department to Congress and reviewed by Foreign Policy.

This comes as mounting concerns about the Nigerian government’s human rights record continue to grow, no thanks to what is viewed as its deadly crackdown on the #ENDSARS protestors in October 2019. In addition, the Twitter ban and systemic corruption issues have not helped matters. Recall that since food and other covid-19 palliatives meant for the Nigerian public were discovered stored in warehouses months after they were supposed to have been distributed to the people by some state governments in Nigeria, there has been no investigation about the matter almost a year later today, either by the National Assembly or any of Nigeria's two anti-corruption commissions. 

These growing concerns culminated in Menendez calling on the Biden Administration to have a “fundamental rethink of the framework of our overall engagement” with Nigeria during a Senate hearing with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month.

The details of this proposed sale were first sent by the Trump State Department to Congress in January 2021, right before Joe Biden was inaugurated as president.

It is the policy of the US government that the State Department informally notifies the US Congress through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) of proposed arms sales in advance of a formal notification. If committee members raise concerns about the proposed sale, the committees can freeze the sale until they receive satisfactory answers about their concerns from the State Department. (This is likely what is going on now.)

But if a proposed arms sale is formally notified to Congress, Congress has a 30-day window to review the sale and, if it opposes the sale, pass legislation to block it. If Congress takes no action, the sale will move forward.

The AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter is a dedicated helicopter escort used to provide (often devastating) close air support for ground troops—a much needed resource against the Boko Haram insurgents by the Nigeria troops. It was first being used by the US Marine Corp (USMC). 

It's deja vu! 

In year 2014, something like this happened between Nigeria and the US. In fact, that was how then-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's administration lost the war against Boko Haram. At that time, US President Barack Obama's administration refused to sell attack weapons to Nigeria because of the Leahy law which banned the US government from selling arms to individuals or military units that were credibly accused of human rights violations around the world. 

In 2014, the Obama US government had expressed serious concerns over human rights abuses by the Nigerian military under Jonathan, prompting the arms sale blockade. Not only did they not sell to Nigeria, they also ensured their allies like Israel didn't sell to Nigeria when the Jonathan government asked Israel to sell Cobra helicopters in 2014. Later in April 2015, the US State Department published a damning report against the Nigerian government on human rights abuses. 

But after Jonathan lost his reelection bid to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2015, the stance of the Obama administration appeared to change slightly. When President Buhari visited Obama at the White House in July 2015 after taking office, Obama promptly pledged US support for Nigeria's fight against Boko Haram, but made no clear commitments on arms sale. 

But during the July meeting, Buhari had taken a swipe against the US government for the arms sale embargo, saying "Regrettably, the blanket application of the Leahy Law by the United States on the grounds of unproven allegations of human rights violations levelled against our forces has denied us access to appropriate strategic weapons to prosecute the war."

"Unwittingly, and I dare say unintentionally, the application of the Leahy Law amendment by the United States government has aided and abetted the Boko Haram terrorists", Buhari added. 

President Obama meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in the Oval Office in July. Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Almost a year later, in May 2016, The New York Times reported that "the Obama administration said it was poised to sell up to 12 light attack aircraft to Nigeria as part of an effort to support the country’s fight against the Boko Haram militant group".

The Obama administration went ahead to propose the sale of 12 A-29 Super Tucano (light attack) warplanes to the Buhari government, but again froze the deal in January 2017 after the Nigerian Airforce accidentally bombed a refugee camp that month. However, after new US President Donald Trump took office in the same January 2017, he agreed to sell the warplanes to the Buhari government. 

Nigerian government took delivery of the first batch of those planes earlier this month. 

With the increasingly volatile security situation at home in Nigeria, especially with Boko Haram having acquired the capacity to shoot down a Nigerian Airforce fighter jet last April, and with mounting reports of human rights abuses by both the Nigerian military and the police against #ENDSARS protestors and largely peaceful separatist protestors too, as well as the rising allegations of corruption against the current government, it becomes all too familiar to see US lawmakers again trying to block arms sale to Nigeria as the nation's general elections approaches in 2023. This has happened before! 

Nigeria needs to rethink strategy

A rethinking of Nigeria's strategy for fighting insurgency and policing citizens, to include and enforce measures that respect and uphold human rights is long overdue. There is in fact no gainsaying this fact—it is audible to the deaf, and visible to the blind. 

And when the government refuses to actively punish men in uniform who abuse the rights of innocent citizens, it further erodes public trust and international alliances that we may need in the future. 

By and large, if this blockade is successful, and Nigeria can't buy arms from the US and her allies because of it, then we must think of getting new allies for sourcing military equipment (if we still can), or we must finally take the bull by the horn and start manufacturing our own weapons locally. 

However, a situation whereby insurgents have now acquired the capacity and audacity to shoot down military planes, capture military tanks, and use them to battle our soldiers, makes one wonder whether they can also capture the Cobra helicopter (if purchased) and use it against the Nigerian forces or citizens.

The situation is very dicey, and calls for Nigeria's decision makers to sit up, be more honest, and demonstrate the will to root out insurgency decisively.

Paul Anunaso is a civil/structural engineer based in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also the Editor of The Paul Anunaso Blog, and can be reached at anunaso.cp@gmail.com