Why Buhari Is Still Mum On Trump’s Rescue Of American

By Emmanuel Aziken

More than 24 hours after United States Special Forces grabbed an American citizen, Philip Watson, from the hands of bandits keeping him in Nigeria, the Nigerian government is yet to formally respond putting the citizenry in awe over the development.

Even more, the country’s leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP took about 24 hours weighing in before formally reacting apparently because of the embarrassment for the country.

Sources in Abuja told GWG that President Buhari was abreast of the developments and the government was weighing options on the issue.

The only official comment from within Nigeria came from the twitter handle of the United States Mission in Nigeria which commended the Nigerian authorities over their ‘cooperation’ in the raid.

US Navy SEALs reportedly invaded a yet unknown site in Northern Nigeria and grabbed Watson from the hands of bandits who had relocated him from Niger Republic where they kidnapped him and brought him to Nigeria for safekeeping.

Despite the claim by the US embassy that the Nigerian authorities were let into the mission, it is believed in certain political and diplomatic circles that the Nigerian may not have been fully loaded on the specific details of the mission on account of past leakages within Nigeria’s command and control system.

Nigerian fighters on the frontline in the fight against Boko Haram have in the past claimed sabotage during missions with the insurgents getting advanced intelligence on the movement of soldiers.

It is significant that the US chose to carry out the operation by itself underlaying its lack of confidence on the Nigerian military to safely rescue the US citizen. The choice of the Americans is not surprising given the fact that several Nigerians are kept for months in kidnappers’ dens in several hideouts across the country.

Even more, despite the Nigeria administration’s claim that insurgents do not control any feet of the country’s territory, many Nigerians know for a fact that several persons have been kidnapped and kept within the country with the government seemingly helpless.

It is also telling that the American abductee, Watson was kidnapped in Niger, but brought into Nigeria strengthening the claim that bandits have better cover in Nigeria than in Niger Republic.

It is perhaps on account of these embarrassing issues that the Nigerian authorities are yet to respond.

Even more, the opposition PDP had refused to hit at the government over the issue until more than 24 hours. The PDP is said to be conscious of the national security implications, and where not, of the embarrassments to the country.

Both the administration and the PDP are not ignorant of the embarrassment that was brought to Pakistan when in May 2011 US Navy SEALs without the knowledge of the authorities went in killed Osama Bin Laden, spent almost an hour gathering sensitive intelligence before leaving.

In this case, the US SEALs came killed six of the seven bandits that had been invisible to Nigerian authorities and left without a scratch. It is even more embarrassing for the Nigerian administration as evident on social media that it happened just within days of the Lekki Toll Gate carnage when soldiers brutalized unarmed protesters singing the national anthem and waving the national flag!

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