CLOSE-UP: Scott Perry, the US congressman behind Boko Haram conspiracy theory

Scott Perry, US congressman, was all over the news when he accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of funding Boko Haram, a terrorist organisation waging war against the Nigerian government.

The agency’s future is now uncertain, with US President Donald Trump threatening to shut it down as part of plans to downsize the federal government.

Perry, a Republican and staunch supporter of Trump, spoke scathingly of USAID at the inaugural hearing of the subcommittee on delivering on government efficiency.

“Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money, $697 million annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That’s what it’s funding,” Perry said, without providing evidence.

This allegation, coming from a US lawmaker, immediately went viral in Nigeria for various reasons.

For supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan, it was evidence that Boko Haram was an American weapon used to destabilise his government and make him lose the 2015 presidential election because he signed the anti-LGBTQ law.

For commentators in northern Nigeria, it was yet another evidence of America’s war on Islam through a “divide and conquer” strategy — by propping terror groups to destabilise Islamic countries.

For decades, the conspiracy theory has been that the US is behind terrorism in order to control the Muslim world.

WHO IS SCOTT GORDON PERRY?

Those who know Perry very well were not surprised by the weighty allegation.

The 62-year-old congressman, who retired as an army National Guard brigadier general in 2019, usually makes statements and takes positions that are considered controversial, sometimes outrageous.

For instance, in October 2020, Perry voted against a house resolution to formally condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory. He said the resolution would stifle freedom of expression.

QAnon, a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement, was birthed in 2017.

Unproved claims are made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as “Q” and amplified on social media

They believe there is a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters in league with the “deep state” operating a global child sex trafficking ring.

Trump is secretly leading the fight against them, they claim.

Another controversial aspect of Perry’s political career was his participation in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including a move to replace electors from Pennsylvania, his constituency.

He declined to be interviewed by the house committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack. The committee called for an interview with Perry, the first time it publicly sought to question a sitting member of congress.

The panel’s chair said it had evidence that Perry was involved in a move to install assistant attorney general Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general in a plot to overturn the election.

The committee alleged that Perry introduced Trump to Clark.

He is also a subscriber to the “great replacement theory” — promoted by conspiracy theorists who argue that immigration is a strategy to outnumber whites in the US.

“For many Americans, what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is, what appears to them is we’re replacing national-born American—native-born Americans to permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation,” Perry said in April 2021.

In March 2021, he voted against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d’état, although it was overwhelmingly passed.

Perry, in April 2022, voted against a bill to encourage documentation and preservation of Russian war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.

On climate change, he regularly opposes policy changes in congress.

He once made a presentation before a house committee arguing that climate change had stopped since 2016, despite scientific consensus.

‘WE STAND WITH NIGERIA AGAINST BOKO HARAM’

Richard Mills, the US ambassador to Nigeria, denied Perry’s claim that his country was funding terrorism in Nigeria.

He denied the allegation in a media interview after meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in Abuja.

“We stand with the Nigerian government and its people in their fight against terrorism and are committed to supporting efforts to eliminate the threat posed by Boko Haram and other extremist groups.”