Femi Fani-Kayode responds to US Senator Patrick Leahy

Former aviation minister and campaign spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection bid has said the Peoples Democratic Party, Femi Fani-Kayode has responded to Patrick Leahy – sponsor of the Leahy Law (or Leahy amendment) that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defence on his comment that Nigeria military are murderers and rapists.

Leahy reportedly said neither he nor the law could be blamed for the atrocities committed by the “murderers and rapists in the Nigerian military”.

In a statement on Saturday by Fani-Kayode made available to newsmen, he said that on the issue to arms deal, he sees the whole thing as a double standard.

Read the full statement below;

The United States government helped Boko Haram immensly by refusing to classify them as a terrorist organisation until 2014 and by refusing to sell us arms to fight them. Worst still, they imposed an international arms embargo on us so that we could not buy arms from anyone else in the international community. When asked why they are doing this to us they tell us that it is because of the Leahy Act which prohibits them from selling arms to governments that violate the human rights of their own citizens.

They forget that we are in the middle of a bitter war and that our enemies are being sponsored and supported by both ISIL and Al Qaeda. They forget that over 50,000 innocent Nigerians have been slaughtered in cold blood and thousands more raped and abducted during the course of that war over the last 5 years. They disregard the fact that every day Nigerians are bleeding more and more and that our gallant Armed Forces, through no fault of their own, have not been able to get the necessary weapons to fight back effectively.
Some things are above partisan politics and this is one of them. Regardless of whichever political party we belong to we must all join forces and support the fight against Boko Haram. We must do this regardless of party affiliation because if we don’t Boko Haram will consumme us all, whether we are PDP, APC or anything else.
We love and admire the Americans and we regard their country as a bastion of good governance, justice, equity and decency. We also recognise the fact that they have brought an immense amount of good into the world over the last 100 years and that they continue to do so.
However in this matter of arms supply to our country it appears to me that a double standard is being applied. It is almost as if they want Nigeria to be brought to her knees and that they want us to be humiliated and destroyed. All the territory that was recovered from Boko Haram by the Jonathan administration is now being threatened again or has been retaken by Boko Haram in the last few weeks.
This comes as a direct consequence of the fact that the Americans have refused to sell us arms and the new allies and friends that the Jonathan administration reached out to in their stead just a few months before leaving power together with the military assistance contracts that they entered into at the time for help in the war against Boko Haram have been terminated.
This is very sad because the immediate consequence of it is the fact that over 1000 Nigerians have been killed by Boko Haram in the last two months alone. That means over 100 people per week have been murdered by the terrorists sinceMay 29th. This must stop and something has to give. We must support the new government in their efforts to stem the tide and to fight terror.
This is all the more important when one considers the fact that there seems to be some hidden agenda on the part of the western powers, led by America, to ensure that we do not acquire the necessary weapons to take on Boko Haram effectively.
When one considers the position of the American government one is forced to ask the following question: w  hy did they not invoke the Leahy Act against Israel, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Ukraine, Pakistan, Yemen, Kenya and Iraq for human rights violations? Why do they continue to supply arms to the governments of all those countries despite what they have done to many of their own citizens and those that they oppose just outside their borders?
Why is it only Nigeria that they have refused to sell arms to and that they have imposed an international arms embargo on even though we are fighting a civil war against a barbaric, relentless and evil enemy that is being sponsored by ISIL and Al Qaeda? Given all this, I believe that it is time for us as a country to begin to reconsider who our friends really are? They say that a friend in need is a friend indeed. You cannot say that you are our friends whilst you sit by idly and watch the blood of our people being shed on a daily basis yet you refuse to do anything about it.
We are not asking you to send troops to fight for us or to give us free arms. We are not cowards or beggars. We are simply asking to buy sophisticated arms and modern weapons from you so that we can defend our people yet you keep saying no and you are urging others not to sell to us either. This is not the act of a friend.
It is unacceptable, it is unfair and, if sustained, it will prove to be counter-productive to the interests of the Americans in our country and in the west African sub-region. The truth is that given the attitude of the United States government I believe that it is time for us to rely far more on our Chinese and Russian friends in our collective war against terror.
I say this because it appears that the western powers and our traditional allies like the United Kingdom, France and America have left us in the lurch. Whichever way we can be rest assured of one thing: Nigeria will never be brought to her knees and ultimately we will win this war because God is with us.
On a final note permit me to take this opportunity to respond to the words of U.S. Senator Patrick Leah, the convener and author of the Leah Act, who has said that our Armed Forces are nothing but ”rapists and murderers”. He also said that we should ”clean up our military” if we want the arms embargo lifted.
This type of  condescending, colonial-overlord, slave-master and gung-ho language and contribution from this foreigner is most unhelpful and it is totally unacceptable. This is all the more so because his words are simply not true.
Whether the Leahy’s of this world wish to accept it or not the truth is that the Nigerian Armed Forces, despite their limitations and constraints, remain one of the most outstanding, successful, courageous, battle-ready and disciplined fighting forces on the African continent. History can attest to that and the sacrifice that those gallant young men and women in uniform make on a daily basis on the battle field in the fight against Boko Haram and in the war against terror over the last five years is a reflection of their deep patriotism and noble calling.
Referring to them as nothing but ”rapists and murderers” is not only a sweeping statement and an absurd generalisation but it is also a deep insult to the Nigerian people and a denigration of the memory of all those courageous young men and women that fought and died on the war-front defending our country.
The truth is that Senator Leahy is nothing but a low-life redneck and so are all those that think like him and that have his mindset. He is the scum of the earth: a typically confused, ignorant, petty-minded, blinkered and racist yankee who has little understanding of world affairs, no understanding of our situation in Nigeria and Africa and no sense of history. He owes the Nigerian people and our Armed Forces an unreserved apology and until he purges himself and renders it, I urge every self-respecting Nigerian to treat him with the contempt and disdain that he deserves.

Comments (7)

  1. The write-up of Fani Kayode to an extent makes sense, but however, just as Okoro said, we have our leaders and ourselves to blame for the humiliation and shame of our military being called murderers and rapists! Although the blame lies squarely on our leaders, i also say we should share in the blame for being docile and allowing our leaders one after the other plunder our resources wirhout raising our voices in protest! When our voices are heard, it is not for anything positive but in defence of these same shameless and heartless people parading themselves as our and leaders who gleefully loot the national treasury, not only for themselves, but also for their children and childrens children. We who are not evev privy to our leaders looting, defend them with all weapons in our rotten arsenal simply because they come fom the same geographical location with us or we belong to the same religion. This breeds contempt and hate amongst us which serve the purposes of our thieving leaders, for the focus is shifted from them as we tear ourselves apart with foul languages!
    Just some months back, our govt in a botched move seeked to buy weapons in south africa! But we should have asked ourselves, for despite parading ourselves as the largest economy in africa, why is it that we cant produce basic weapons for combat? Why is a fellow african country able to produce weapons while we couldnt? The reason is simple – because their government until few years back was run by white africans! I bet you if it was run by blacks, they couldnt have achieved the level of development in south africa today, which can favourably compete with other developed countries! Sometimes when i reflect on this, i ask myself whether there is something inherently wrong with the black man that limits his national consciouness, patroitism and ability to perform excellently especially in thier home countries, but only interested in looting public funds! Sometimes i wish Britain didnt give us our independence so soon, for from all indications, we are incapable of ruling ourselves!
    Essienton, our leaders were unable to reply mr Leahy because to begin with, he didnt tie our hands to prevent us from developing our own weapons. Secondly, for diplomatic reasons, a sitting president or top ranking government officials are constrained from using foul language like fani kayode. The dirty work is left for citizens and not leaders! Fani kayode is free to express his frustration just like anyother citizen, and i will in due course add my own.
    Okoro, in addition to weapon producing industries in Igboland, we also have quiet a number situated in some parts of the country. I know of the defence industry in kaduna which was set up to produce weapons. It operated efficiently for sometimes until it was deliberatly killed by our leaders for selfish reasons! Military leaders begining with Babangida deliberatly paralized the nigerian military to check-mate them from staging the type of Okar led coup that they staged against Babangida who narrowly escaped death! This made him think the only way to control the excesses of officers and men of the armed forces is to starve them of military hardwares and weapons! Since then, the military guys were unable stage coups. This neglect of the military continued with subsequent administrations. The shameful state of our military remained largly unknown to nigerians, until the boko haram insurgency exposed the true situation of our military – their inability to even face a rag tag bandits like boko haram! They could not face any form combat because of dearth of equipments! They lack basic equipments talkless of sophisticated ones!
    Its really sad that our military is not battle ready in any form. Is a country not supposed to be battle ready at all times? Not so with nigeria – hence Obasanjo hurriedly handed over Bakassi to cameroon for fear of military confrontations!
    As for leahy, its unfortunate he had to use hard language on our military! One cant dismiss human rights abuses by some of our soldiers, but this is not to say they all do the same things – hence i’m appauled by his generalization! We happen to know of human rights abuses by american soldiers all over the world as well, so he shouldnt have run his mouth as if american military are saints! The ones that readily come to mind is those at Abugriab and Gwatanamo detaintion centres! The only difference is that when caught, they are severely punished. Again this is not to say all american soldiers are human right abusers because few of them drive pleasure in humiliating and torturing prisoners!
    Again such sweepig generalization misleads their gullible people who are so narrow minded that they dont see anything good in africans!
    Finally, the deed is done. It is too late to cry over spilled milk. Our leaders should do away with selfish interests of protecting themselves against coups and think of the generality of nigerians! Loosing one leaders life is not anything compared to the thousands of deaths as recorded in the north east and other parts of the country!

  2. FFK May God Almighty God continue to Bless & Protect you & your Household for your Up rightness. Even though being an opposition, you take it upon yourself to do the work of the ruling Party, Thanks a lot for telling the imperialist the truth. Are the American God? Are leaders should stop belittling us in the face of the world. Who are the American by the way? Let our leader learn to handle our challenges our own way and stop running to them since they are adding much to our problems.

  3. My Dear FFK, You are someone I have grown to admire for his boldness and strategic loquacity, especially in issues where many are afraid to speak out. This I must say is a gift which has earned you positions as spokesperson of recent Nigerian democratic regimes. Therefore I understand your need to demonstrate your patriotism for the country. However, I must remind you that the USA deserve their right to supply weapons to whomever they choose. No body should condemn their decisions in this matter. Nigeria enjoys sovereignty with a endless potentials just like the USA. There is no law that says that Nigeria must be tied to the apron strings of European and American countries in order for her to breathe.
    The USA should not be blamed for Nigeria’s failure to develop her defense industry despite the donkey years of allocating the lion share of her annual budgets to defense, even when the country was not at war. It will be recalled that the GEJ government, which you served told the world that there was dearth of effective weapons in the armoury. This was what prompted him to seek the Senate’s approval of a request for external borrowing of 1 billion dollars to tackle security challenges in the country, in September 2014. I am yet to come across any report of probes concerning why it should be so. None one yet has been arrested, talk less of being indicted.
    The USA is not to be blamed for Nigeria’s years of profligacy, and politicking with the education and promotion of technology among her citizens. After the Biafran war, Nigeria inherited the services of those Biafrans that built effective ammunitions with local technology. This industry could have blossomed and boosted Nigeria’s respect in the comity of nations, if not for the continued policy of hating and destroying whatever comes from the Eastern part of the country. The archives of Nigeria are filled with stories of flames from the land of the rising sun, which the Nigerian leaders set out to extinguish to the detriment of the country’s destiny. The lengthy list includes the Project Development Institute of Nigeria (PRODA), located in Enugu, which is one of the agencies of government that hold the key to Nigeria’s indigenous technological breakthroughs. Nigeria ignored Damian Anyanwu’s Radio Mbaise, but sent NTA crew to cover the event when he was honoured in USA’s White House by President George Bush in 2005, for his numerous inventions that helped to boost science and technology in the USA, Nigeria abandoned Engr Ezekiel Izukogu’s Nigerian Car Z600 (made with 96% local technology), which could have solved the transport needs of the country and earned huge foreign exchange for her. Even now they are spending scarce resources in seeking to put out Radio Biafra, instead of reaching out to Nnamdi Kanu to dialogue with him to see how Nigeria can benefit from the technology that puts an African radio station on the world map. And yet FFK wants us to blame USA and other countries for wanting “Nigeria to be brought to her knees …humiliated and destroyed”.
    Senator Leahy remains a good friend of Nigeria for sponsoring a law that would discourage their government from supplying weapons of mass destruction to a government that has consistently demonstrated a sickening unwillingness to bring influential politicians within the corridors of power (who have been accused of sponsoring the murdering of innocent Nigerians, by aiding and abetting Boko Haram) to justice.
    Wisdom demands that the Nigerian government should tell herself the truth and bear with soberness the consequences of years of inaction, insincerity, and sometimes outright political stupidity, in matters of national security, instead of looking for someone to blame. If Nigeria is to choose her friends then she must abandon those that have refused to tell her the truth all along, just because of what they hope to gain from a country that prefers to operate as a banana republic and romancing with a pariah status by her own actions and inactions. A good friend is one that is not afraid to tell you the truth even when it hurts, rather those that clap for you even when your clothes are stained with excreta. A good response to Senator Leahy’s utterances is for Nigeria to call the USA bluff and look inwards to right her wrongs. That is what I expect FFK to talk about.

  4. You wan tell us say this zoo no get tools? Who una dey even deceive self? FFK you no get sense o! Zoo no get tools to fight BH but they get enough to destroy calabar and other parts. I no blame you sha!

  5. I agree entirely with FFK. Why are d Americans treatn us like that. We a better off with d Chinese & Russians…

  6. where did the zoo got the weapon to bomb calabar…and is planning another genocide

  7. For once I agree with FF. It is this same Armed forces being insulted that US and allies relied on in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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