The United States may have changed its decision to designate Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) as a result of mixed reactions that followed a proposal by the Department of Justice to classify the group as such.
?Top official of the Department told our correspondent that there were series of meetings last week on the issue between President Barrack Obama and security chiefs in the White House over the controversy.
The official who preferred anonymity added that the US government was seriously considering not listing Boko Haram as FTO because would not want anything to jeopardise the security aspect of the bi-national relationship between her and Nigeria.
Our Correspondent also gathered that the United States also considered the recent warnings by about 20 American scholars who asked that Boko Haram should not be classified as FTO.
The United States, our Correspondent learnt, also considered various warnings and pleadings from the federal government and religious groups in Nigeria.
The United States scholars explained that designating Boko Haram a terrorist organisation would also bar Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and academic researchers in the United States from having interactions with them.
Apart from this, National Security adviser General Owoye Andrew Azazi and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Adefuye, had as well requested the United States not to include Boko Haram in its terror list.
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