Why FG can’t deploy new fighter jets in Southeast

The United States Government says the Federal Government is expected to deploy the Super Tucano aircraft only in the northern part of the country where Boko Haram terrorists have engaged the Nigerian state in a decade-long insurgency killing thousands and displacing millions.

This, therefore, precludes the possibility of the Federal Government deploying the security equipment in the South-East despite the designation of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra as a terrorist organisation and the setting up of the armed Eastern Security Network by IPOB.

Briefing journalists earlier in the week, the US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, Jonathan Finer, at an event attended by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the terms of the agreement during the sale of the 12 Tucano aircraft were explicit.

Reacting to a question on whether the Tucano fighter planes might be deployed against secessionists in the South-East, Finer said the planes were an important platform for security, particularly in the North, expressing pleasure over the conclusion of the deal.

READ ALSO: Super Tucano jets will help Nigeria fight terrorists – Official

Finer said, “We are pleased to deepen our security cooperation with the Nigerian government. I think we made it very clear our expectations about this platform where it would be used and in the right way and we are always raising concerns when we have them and that it’s true with all our security partners around the world.

On Wednesday the military had not been able to deploy the Tucano planes to crush the bandits in the North-West because the agreement signed with the United States was that the aircraft, bought from the US, would be deployed against terrorists and not bandits. This implies that the fighter planes have only been deployed to fight Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

It was gathered that the complaints by the service chiefs led to the recent recommendation to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), by the Senate and the House of Representatives that bandits should be designated as terrorists, so the planes could be deployed against the bandits.

The Federal Government had ordered 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to aid its war against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East. The aircraft were said to have cost $423m.

READ ALSO: A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets in action in Borno, Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, others

On July 22, 2021, the Nigerian Air Force said in a statement by its spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, that the first batch of six of the Tucano aircraft arrived at Kano at about 12:34pm.

Also, on October 18, 2021, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the remaining six had been received and had been deployed to the North-East.

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The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra says it fears the Federal Government will deploy the Tucano planes to attack Igbo youths agitating to secede from Nigeria.

It said the worry of its members was triggered by the killings and burning of houses in Igbo communities by the personnel of the Nigerian Army in Imo State in the name of reprisals.