Pakistan and Nigeria on Thursday denied that Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Aziz Khan this week offered to help Nigeria acquire nuclear power.
The need for a denial arose after Gen Aziz met with Nigerian Defence Minister Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in Abuja and a Nigerian Defence Ministry statement claimed that the Pakistani general had offered nuclear power to Nigeria. The Nigerian Defence Ministry statement said, âGen Aziz told Mr Kwankwoso that his country is working out the dynamics of how it can assist Nigeriaâs armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power.â
| They need nuclear weapons for... ummm... peacekeeping operations in Liberia. |
When Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri was asked about the report at a joint press conference he was addressing with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, he said, âThis is rubbish and we deny it.â
Mr Kasuri asked, âHow could a Pakistan Army general make such an offer at this time?â
âWe are denying it. This is baseless. He said nothing of this kind,â military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said.
| "What he actually said was... ummm... something else." |
Nigerian Defence Ministry spokesman Bellu Nwachukwu said the earlier claim that Pakistanâs top general had offered to help Nigeria acquire nuclear power was a mistake and it should be ignored. âThe reference to nuclear power in the statement earlier issued was a mistake, a typographical error,â he said, confirming the reaction of the Pakistani authorities to the issue.
| "Yes, that's it! You know how those stenographers are!" |
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