But Senator Leahy was also quick to offer President Buhari some sops of sort, when he highlighted other collaborations between Nigeria and the US military:

“President Buhari ignores the undisputed fact that most Nigerian army units have been approved, under the Leahy Law, for U.S. training and equipment. Only those particular units against which there is credible evidence of the most heinous crimes are ineligible for U.S. aid. And even those units can again become eligible if the Nigerian Government takes effective steps to bring the responsible individuals to justice.

Senator Leahy: urges Buhari to tame the rapists and murderers in the army

“I strongly agree with President Buhari about the need to defeat Boko Haram, and I have supported tens of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Nigeria for that purpose. But rather than suggest that the United States is at fault for not funding murderers and rapists in the Nigerian military, he should face up to his own responsibility to effectively counter Boko Haram. He should direct his attention to the Nigerian military, and the Nigerian courts, and clean up the units implicated in such atrocities.”

According to a report by the Associated Press, Buhari “departs with little practical military assistance in his battle against the Islamist militants who have turned the northeast of his country into a bloody war zone.”

The news organization reported that the US government told the Nigerian leader that its arms are tied by an American law, the Leahy Act, which prevents it from selling arms to countries with human rights abuse records. But the reports indicated that on the issue of corruption, the US government had indicated that it will assist Nigeria recover all identified ill-gotten wealth in countries in which they have jurisdiction, including the U.S itself.

The United States has also indicated its readiness to provide training to judicial staff and prosecutors “in order to place Nigeria in a good position to uncover proceeds of corruption and for improved prosecution of cases of crime.” This was part of the details of the meeting between President Buhari and United States Attorney-General Loretta Lynch on the subject of support for the war on corruption in Nigeria.

In the same vein, the two parties also agreed to strengthen the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed between the two countries in 1985 which came into effect in 2003. “There will be collaboration. Each of the two countries will receive legal assistance from the other on criminal matters and that should cover the recovery of ill-gotten wealth. On extradition, we already have a treaty with U.S. by virtue of being a former British colonial territory. There is however the possibility that Nigeria might negotiate a new extradition treaty to meet our other requirements. The negotiation will be done under the auspices of a ‘reenergized’ U.S-Nigeria Bi-National Commission” an official statement said.

On its part, the President said in a statement on Friday that he had a very successful and useful talks with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, other high-ranking US government officials and members of United States Congress during his visit to Washington DC. It is his expectation that those talks will lead to better mutual understanding and a further deepening of bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United States, especially in Nigeria’s current priority areas of defence and security cooperation.