President Muhammadu Buhari has said U.S. President Donald Trump was given wrong information on recent killings in Nigeria, describing those behind the report as mischief-makers. According to Buhari, the information that Christians were being killed in Nigeria was untrue.
Buhari disclosed this when he granted interview to the Voice of America (VOA), Hausa Service, in Washington DC on Tuesday. The President, who began by saying his engagements with his American counterpart were just discussions and no agreement was signed, however, said their discussions centered on the killings in Nigeria, farmers/herdsmen clash among others.
Asked what other agreements Nigeria and US had apart from the jet fighters, President Buhari said: "Not agreements, just discussions. The first one is the information being given to them that Christians are being killed in Nigeria; but what happened in the church also happened in the South East and the North and they just say it is herdsmen that are killing them.
"Those making these allegations against the herdsmen know that herdsmen as we know them only carry sticks, going about with guns is a new thing and those making the allegations know that conflict between farmers and herders has a long history even before we were born.
"Therefore, it is wrong to say the conflict is between Fulani and Tiv or other tribe like in Taraba. What of Zamfara where more people were killed than in Taraba and Benue put together. People need to understand that it is mischief that makes people to bring in religion or ethnicity.”
President Buhari, who gave reasons why he honoured Trump’s invitation, again recalled how President Barrack Obama’s administration refused to allow Nigeria buy weapons to prosecute the war on terror.
He continued, “The US government understands the importance of Nigeria in Africa and the world at large. For instance, during Obama era, we tried to get some jets to help us in the fight against terrorism in the northeast which was declined.
"But as soon as President Trump came into office, he gave the green light and advised us to make funds available. He said the US will sell the jets to us; we had each approached Brazil and the UAE, but they told us that based on the agreement they had with the US, they cannot sell or give anyone these jets until the US agrees; but the US refused at the time until the arrival of Trump who granted our request and gave us price.”
Tags
Society