The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has described as speculative, media reports that the United States Government has reneged on its decision to sell military hardware including fighter jets to the federal government.
The Director of Public Relations and Information at NAF, Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya made this know while reacting to claims that two United States Senators, Cory Booker and Rand Paul had called on the US government to stop sale of aircraft to Nigeria, citing human right abuses.
According to him "What the report said was that the two senators wrote to stop the sale of the aircrafts. But the way the American system works is that they cannot stop the sale, they can only write to stop. The senators gave their reasons why they think the American government should not sell to us. Up till now, the American government has not informed us officially that they are not selling. We are very hopeful. The Nigerian Air Force sees the US as an ally."
It would be recalled that, President Donald Trump’s administration has given its greenlight to the sale of up to a dozen, Super Tucano A-29 aircraft, an agile propeller-driven plane with reconnaissance and surveillance as well as attack capabilities in a deal that could to worth up to $600 million.
“Presently, we are expecting two more Mi-35M fighter helicopters from Russia and 10 more Super Mushshak from Pakistan. The processes are ongoing. You should note that aircrafts are not taken off the shelf. You make a request and they then start building" he added.
Adesanya lamented that most of the incidents of human rights abuses leveled against the Nigerian Military were false as personnel of all the forces are well trained and supervised.
He reiterated that the Nigerian Military was a professional body that will always play by the rules of the game. He appealed to local and international agencies working against the interest of the country by maligning the military to retrace their steps.
