Nigeria refused search aid for weeks

The president of Nigeria for weeks refused international help to search for more than 300 girls abducted from a school by Islamic extremists, one in a series of missteps that have led to growing international outrage against the government. Britain, Nigeria’s former colonizer, first said it was ready to help in a news release the day after the mass abduc tion on April 15, and made a for mal offer of assist ance on April 18, accord ing to the Brit ish Foreign Offi ce. And the U. S. has said its embassy and staff agen cies off ered help and were in touch with Ni geria “from day one” of the crisis, ac cord ing to Secretary of State John Kerry. Yet it was only on Tues day and Wednesday, almost a month later, that President Goodluck Jonathan accepted help from the United States, Canada, Britain, France and China. The delay underlines what has been a major problem in the attempt to find the girls: an apparent lack of urgency on the part of the government and military, for reasons that include a reluctance to bring in outsiders as well as possible infiltration by the extremists. Jonathan bristled last week when he said U.S. President Barack Obama, in a telephone conversation about aid, had brought up alleged human rights abuses by Nigerian security forces. Jonathan also acknowledged that his government might be penetrated by insurgents from Boko Haram, the extremist group that kidnapped the girls. Last year, he said he suspected Boko Haram terrorists might be in the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of government along with the police and armed forces. The military has denied that it ignored warnings of the impending attacks and denied any collusion with the extremists. Reuben Abati, one of Jonathan’s advisers, denied that Nigeria had turned down offers of help. “That information cannot be correct,” he said. “What John Kerry said is that this is the first time Nigeria is seeking assistance on the issue of the abducted girls.” In fact, Kerry has said Nigeria did not welcome U. S. help earlier because it wanted to pursue its own strategy.