By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Russia has offered to help Nigeria, a longstanding U.S. ally, in its fight against terrorism, especially in the country's restive northeast where it is battling a five-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.
"When we went to the U.N. General Assembly meeting, Nigeria's foreign affairs minister met with the foreign affairs minister of Russia," presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told Anadolu Agency in a phone interview.
"The outcome of that meeting on the part of Russia is that they are prepared to assist Nigeria in whatever way they can in combating the evil of terror, both in Nigeria and the [West African] sub-region," he said.
Nigeria is fighting a five-year insurgency in its northeastern region, waged by Boko Haram militants who say they want to establish Islamic rule.
The group, which first emerged in 2001 and remained peaceful until the 2009 death of leader Mohamed Yusuf while in police custody, has since become violent.
Following months of attacks, which some sources claim have killed up to 5,000 people this year alone, Boko Haram has faced the Nigerian army's superior firepower over the past two months, resulting in hundreds of deaths on their side.
"One area in which the administration has been making a lot of progress – particularly in the past two months – is that many Boko Haram kingpins have either been arrested, brought to court or killed in shootouts with Nigerian military forces," Abati told AA.
"There have [also] been cases of terrorists who have surrendered," the spokesman said.
Last month, the military claimed to have killed a man it had insisted was masquerading as Boko Haram's long-dead leader, Abubakar Shekau – an assertion the group has denied.
Neither claim could be verified independently owing to limitations on media coverage of the crisis.
"There have also been cases of terrorists who have surrendered," said Abati. "All this is a result of the government's commitment and efforts."
-Looking east-
The presidential spokesman did not say what kind of support Moscow was offering, although there are widespread reports that Abuja is looking east – especially to Russia and China – for arms with which to fight the insurgency.
Local media recently quoted U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle as saying that his country wouldn't sell arms to Nigeria due to the country's purported human rights abuses.
Neither the ambassador nor the U.S. embassy has denied making the assertion, which some analysts believe indicates a degree of American frustration with Nigeria.
Abati, for his part, believes the U.S. envoy was probably misquoted.
"I know that sometimes there may be cases of misrepresentation," he told AA. "You may wish to check with him if he actually made such a comment."
Asked if cooperation with Russia was linked to the purported refusal of western countries to sell arms to Nigeria, Abati retorted: "I have no authorization to comment on that. I have no information."
But he insisted that Nigeria was open to support from anywhere in the world.
"The president has always made clear that a terror attack on any individual is a terror attack on the whole of humanity and a terror attack on any country should be [taken] as a terror attack on all countries," Abati told AA.
He said the position of the Nigerian government was that any country willing to work with it in this regard was welcome to check this threat to humanity.
"All countries must work together in whatever way they can to ensure that this assault on human civilization is checked wherever it may rear its head and in whatever shape it presents itself, be it Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Boko Haram," Abati added.
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