At a time when the deadly Boko Haram group was wrecking havoc in the north east, Hilary Clinton as US Secretary State, had refused to designate the group a terror organisation.
The Speech that stirred controversy
Former President Bill Clinton, in a private fundraiser speech last year made public by Wikileaks earlier this week, told his wife’s donors that their family foundation has tried to “to save the lives of children” in Nigerian territory held by jihadist group Boko Haram.
His comments came after Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton reportedly refused to designate the jihadist group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) when she served as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State.
A probe by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) found the Clintons’ close relationship with Gilbert Chagoury, whose company pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2009, played a role in Secretary Clinton’s delay in deeming the Nigeria-based Boko Haram as a terrorist group.
Another look at the Clinton Foundation
The CGI is a non-profit organization launched by former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in 2005.
Transcripts of former President Clinton’s speech at a campaign fundraiser for his wife were made public after being emailed to current Hillary campaign chairman John Podesta as an attachment.
The speech reportedly took place behind closed doors, right outside of Washington, D.C. back in October 2015.
Bill Clinton told donors:
“In Nigeria, for example, where Boko Haram is located, my foundation is working in the exact same areas trying to save the lives of (inaudible) children who die from diarrhea with a simple oral rehydration (inaudible) package that costs 50 cents to save the life of a child.”
Although the Clinton Foundation appears to have provided aid for some in Nigeria, it is unclear if any of the boys and girls were from territory controlled by Boko Haram, which lies in the northeastern part of the country.
Citing the United Nations Children’s Fund, known as UNICEF, Newsweek reported in July that nearly 50,000 “children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition in [northeastern Nigeria’s] Borno state, the birthplace of the militant group… Of these, 49,000—around one in five children—will die if they do not receive treatment soon as the humanitarian response to the crisis wanes.”
In September, The Associated Press (AP) learned from intelligence agency Stratfor that Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria is “largely responsible” for a resurgence of polio, which affects children and causes severe paralysis.
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a nonprofit launched by the Clinton Foundation in 2010, joined the governments of Nigeria and Norway as well as non-governmental organizations, business leaders, and civil society to launch the Saving One Million Lives (SOML) effort in 2012.
“Under this program, the [Nigerian] Ministry [of Health] has set a new goal of saving one million lives of women and children and improving the quality of care in Nigeria in 2013 by focusing on evidence-based interventions expected to have the greatest impact on lives saved,” noted the Clinton Foundation in an October 2012 press release announcing SOML.
The Clinton Foundation claimed in 2012:
CHAI began its work in Nigeria in 2007 with programs including in the Niger Delta to strengthen the conflicted region’s HIV/AIDS service infrastructure, which has resulted in a 350% increase in pediatric testing and 70% increase in access to pediatric antiretroviral drugs. CHAI is now taking this vanguard approach to improve access to essential medicines for children, helping to unite businesses, NGOs, and donor organizations around this cause in support of SOML.
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