The US has again stopped the Nigerian government from acquiring fighter ground jets from Brazil.
It was learnt that Nigeria was unable to finalise the transactions after Brazil became reluctant to sell to it, only to understand later that the South American country was acting on the orders of the US.
The Nigerian government had sought to buy an A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, in order to help combat the fight against Boko Haram in the North East of the country.
According to reports, the purchase of the jet became necessary after the leadership of the Armed Forces took a decision to replace the ailing Alpha Jet platform of the Nigerian Airforce with the newer A-29 Super Tucano.
The Brazilians had acquired 99 of their aircraft’s from the US firm, Embraer Defence System, hence the reason they were involved in the purchasing process.
It was further learnt that the US had told the Brazilians to put the deal on hold due to human rights issues which involves the military.
It will be recalled that the US had prevented Goodluck Jonathan’s administration from acquiring Boeing CH-47 Chinok helicopters from Israel in January 2015 purportedly due to human rights issues, forcing the past administration to seek less established and trusted channels to acquire weapons to fight insurgency.
The US gave a condition to Brazil during the sale of the aircraft which states that they could only be resold to other countries with permission from the US.
The aircraft are unique because the plan was to use the A-29 Super Tucano Fighter Ground Attack aircraft to replace the ailing Alpha jets.
