By Sadeeq Shehu
One of the hand-wringing lamentations at the Senate yesterday was the call by the Senate urging the government to deploy fighter jets to flush out terrorists and “apprehend”(with jets!!).
In particular, ; Senator Abdul Kwari (APC, Kaduna) said: “I am tempted to ask Mr President, where are the Tucano fighter jets that were recently acquired by the federal government and heavily celebrated by all of us that these bandits have come home to roost?
“Unfortunately, we are NOW (emphasis mine) told that Nigeria will need a second layer of approval for it to use these Tucano fighter jets against these bandits that we have all agreed should be termed terrorists. Mr Senator pemit me to say that it is not NOW that the Americans told us so.
They have stated this condition right from the beginning in the contract papers , contract papers which if we had vibrant knowledge driven national assembly should have been examined before approval.
I know that many senate delegations visited US on this Tucano matter but obviously none cared to read the contract papers. Sad.
Now with regards to the use of the Tucanos on bandits, recall that on 21 Octiber 2021, I posted thus : THE EXPLAINER : IF WE DECLARE BANDITS TERRORISTS CAN WE USE THE TUCANOS TO POUND THEM?
I read recent news items emanating from NASS that Nigerian military has its hands tied with regards to use of Tucanos against bandits. Arising from this NASS members believe that declaring bandits terrorists would automatically make the US to lift the stringent conditions they imposed on us for the use of the Tucanos.
I regret to note it’s not that straight forward. It’s complicated. Let me try to explain.
When the Tucanos negotiations started far back as 2011 the overriding security concern for Nigeria was Boko Haram. Certainly as part of the global war against terror support for any military that’s fighting terrorism holds strategic interests for the US.
This was the main reason that made US to even consider the sale : fight Boko Haram.
But there were concerns even then there was great opposition and resistance from congress especially from powerful congressmen like Sen Leahy who were convinced (rightly or wrongly) that our forces would use the Tucanos in such a way that civilians will be harmed. They believed (rightly or wrongly) that our forces abuse human rights basically from reports they get from international human rights organizations like amnesty who we must understand have great influence on American policy makers. Obama almost secured a compromise with congress to proceed but the Rann incident stopped progress.
Trump came with his America First and for him this big contract was too good to pass. He somehow convinced congress to strike a compromise: we will sell but we will impose stringent conditions on use of the aircraft such that the fears by Leahy and co will be minimized. Among the conditions: use Tucanos only for fight against Boko Haram!
I will not go into the other conditions. We had our back to the wall as we badly needed the aircraft. It was almost a take it or leave it . We accepted the contract.
Now, would designating bandits contracts automatically make US change the conditions (like I heard our lawmakers and others saying) . Unfortunately I’d say No. it’s not that automatic. Just like in the case of IMN and IPOB which we have proscribed US or any other country is not obligated to accept our designation. By analogy during the South African anti apartheid struggle US designated Mandela and ANC as terrorists Nigeria and other African countries did not follow.
In matter of such designation no designation by one country is automatically binding on another. Just yesterday Turkish president said there are Turkish terrorists in Nigeria . PMB didn’t respond meaning Nigeria is not obligated to accept Turkish designation.
In sum: while designation of bandits will satisfy popular demands it may have nothing to do with the conditions that US imposed on us and which we accepted on use of Tucanos.
Arms procurement contracts usually contain a lot of deal breaker clauses. A country in great need may have few options than to accept the contract as is. Especially when the country is at war. I hope our lawmakers understand this and manage expectations about the assumption “Declaring bandits terrorists will allow us to use Tucanos “
Even when early January , the AGF and Minister of Justice Malami was reported to have said approval to use the Tucanos against bandits has been obtained from the Americans, I expressed my reservations on Channelstv knowing what I know about this contract and on 7 January I posted thus:
WITH RESPECT TO WHAT AGF SAID, and like I said on Channelstv Politics Today yesterday evening, this issue of use of TUCANOS against any other targets apart from Boko Haram terrorists in North East, unfortunately is not yet resolved . Unfortunately, this contractual condition on how and where we can use the Tucanos is not resolved simply by our declaration of bandits as terrorists. It’s a complicated situation and the roots are to be found in when we signed the contract, and also US laws which stipulate that buyers of US military equipment must comply with certain conditions.
My understanding is that , yes we have declared bandits terrorists in accordance with our laws, but it doesn’t mean such declaration obligates other countries to also automatically accept that classification.
In matters of declaration of a group or individual terrorists every country charts its own course. It is important to understand that and also for our policy makers to fully acquaint themselves with laws that exist in countries before signing defense procurement contracts. Meanwhile what is required is more bilateral discussions with the United States to understand our plight.
If we eventually obtain the Green Light then the Nigerian Air Force must ensure precise and accurate bombings that will not raise allegations of unacceptable levels of collateral damage and other issues
LESSON : OUR POLICY MAKERS IN BOTH EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES SHOULD EXERCISE MORE KNOWLEDGE DRIVEN DUE DILLIGENCE BEFORE COMMITTING NIGERIA TO ANY ARMS CONTRACT
