BEVERLY HILLS, CA, June 17, (THEWILL) – United States Congress woman, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is urging the United States Government to take further action against the Boko Haram, a terrorist group operating mainly in Northern Nigeria, which has claimed responsibility for scores of deadly attacks including the abduction of over 220 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State about two months ago.
The congress woman, a ten-term Democrat from Texas, who last week led a congressional delegation to Nigeria to get a firsthand knowledge on the activities of the terrorist group returned to the U.S on Monday with a strong message to the Obama-led administration to challenge the horror being inflicted on Nigerians by the group, a report in The Daily Beast said.
Even though the Obama administration had designated the Boko Haram as terrorist organization in November 2013 and recently dispatched U.S. Special Forces to Nigeria to help train Nigerian soldiers, and also provide intelligence that could lead to the rescue of the missing girls, Jackson Lee said immediate action is required in Nigeria for the stability of the oil-rich nation and the African continent.
Jackson Lee travelled to Nigeria alongside Reps. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Steve Stockman (R-TX) and Lois Frankel (D-FL).
“They (Boko Haram) are decapitating, they are slicing the throats of women, leaving them for dead. It is a larger issue than we may have thought. They have taken over villages, they are raping, they are pillaging, they are taking resources from villages, stealing,” the report said quoting Jackson Lee.
“What we learned firsthand was the viciousness and the lack of any morality on the part of Boko Haram.
“Boko Haram should not be taken lightly… they’re killing villagers as we speak,” she added.
On the over 220 schoolgirls that were forcefully abducted from their hostels on April 14, Jackson Lee argued that
“The girls should not be an international side story”, adding that the crisis in Nigeria should be considered in concert with Congressional deliberation on the devolving situation in Iraq.
“This is an issue which really requires our immediate attention,” she said. “Each and every one of us was moved by the horror of it. We are committed to making sure… this is not a story that is forgotten, [just] because it seems to be such a difficult task to rescue these girls.”
The Texas Democrat argued that while Boko Haram lacked the ability to strike at the United States, the terrorist organization is just as brutal as the pre-9/11 Taliban and is capable of destabilizing Nigeria and the surrounding region. Jackson Lee said she worried about a “ripple effect in Africa, which ultimately affects stability in the world and the interactions the United States has in Africa.”
