Pakistan denies offering Nigeria nuclear power

Pakistan yesterday rejected Nigerian claims that its armed forces chief offered this week to help the African state acquire nuclear power.

"We are denying it. This is baseless. He said nothing of this kind," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

Nigeria's defence ministry has accused the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff General Muhammad Aziz Khan of offering to "strengthen (Nigeria's) military capability and acquire nuclear power."

In a statement issued in Lagos, it said Khan made the offer during talks Wednesday with Nigeria's Defence Minister Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in Abuja.

Pakistan is still reeling from revelations that its top nuclear scientist sold nuclear equipment and designs to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, the metallurgist hailed as the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed on television last month to proliferating nuclear secrets after a two-month probe prompted by information from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has denied allegations that former army chiefs and governments authorised the nuclear sales.

But he has refused to allow an inquiry by international investigators, who want to probe further to determine whether the nuclear know-how was sold to other countries.

Musharraf pardoned Khan after he made a televised confession, in which the scientist exonerated the military of any role.

However in a written confession submitted five days before his televised admission, Khan had accused two former army chiefs of "indirectly pressuring" him to proliferate, a military official told AFP in February.