Spare Taylor this Odium: A RejoinderBy Candidus Uzoukwu Obiajunwa cuobiajunwa@yahoo.comPort Harcourt – NigeriaThis
is in corroboration of an article on the above subject by Ben Lawrence,
veteran journalist and reporter, in the Guardian Newspaper) of August
18, 2003, P. 15. The piece
was a presentation of facts, away from legends and fiction about Mr.
Charles Taylor and the Liberian Imbroglio. It was good to know that
there is still in Nigeria someone who knows the truth and would rather
not join the bandwagon to malign an unlucky guy. I
am touched by all the
ignorance, misrepresentation, falsehood, hypocrisy, mischief and
injustice against the person of Charles Taylor.
It is particularly disturbing that somebody like chief Tom Ikimi;
former Nigeria’s external affairs minister under Gen. Abacha is so
involved in this campaign of calumny. Ikimi lied that he was the first
Nigeria’s foreign minister to set foot on Liberia at the time of her
civil war(s). Gen Ike Nwachukwu (Rtd) was known to have visited ECOMOG
in Monrovia about seven years earlier in December (Xmas) 1990 at the
peak of Taylor’s insurgency. Perhaps Ikimi thinks it tool far back to
be recalled. I think Ikimi is seeking for a new relevance and being of the Abacha people’s party (APP), which is not particular friendly with president Obasanjo. He is trying to tell the world just what he perceives they would like to hear, that Taylor is very quilt and crucify him! But Ikimi himself served a government that was grossly despotic and notorious for corruption, vices, and deceit. One would have expected that people like him who were part of the bazaar that was Babangida/Abacha regime in Nigeria would be too ashamed to be seen or heard in public. Ikimi was involved in the politics that made Liberia/Taylor Nigeria’s Dilemma as he phrased it. There
is a need to keep abreast with the facts or truth about the Charles
Taylor phenomenon. We need to appreciate the background and Taylor’s
mission in Liberia, how far he went, and the obstacles and odds he came
to face and how his cookies crumbled.
Then we would be able to judge him fairly if we must judge him
and whether anybody should be harassing him
in Nigeria. Then also we would see how Liberia and Taylor came to
be Nigeria’s dilemma, which I think is far from what Ikimi is telling
us today in the media. Charles
Taylor happened to belong to or be of the upper elite ruling class or
rank in Liberia and served in the government of Sgt. Samuel Doe who was
a Despot. He offended Doe and had to flee for his dear life and Doe went
after him with a charge of corruption. Taylor was eventually arrested
and jailed at Baltimore prisons USA – the colonial master and
the parent country to Liberia. The Liberian flag is similar to
that of the US and obviously there is a political angle to the above
development. Taylor must have developed his own plans about how to
get back to Liberia and at Doe. He jumped bail and came back to start a
guerilla war against Doe’s government. Charles
Taylor-led NPFL was determined to overthrow Doe’s regime, which had
already lost its legitimacy and acceptance in Liberia. That was about
the only way to affect a charge of government in Liberia as at the time
and it was in vogue and the trend in Africa to do so by force of arms or
coup. So NPFL launched an insurgency against Doe on December 24, 1989
from their base in Cote d’Ivoire. Taylor’s approach, strategy and
logistics proved very elaborate and his investment in the mission heavy.
He was however not the first to take the perilous risk to challenge the
misrule of Doe. Thomas Quinwokpa and others were executed in one of the
invasions. Eventually
Taylor bestrode Liberia and was set to take over the Executive Mansion
or presidential villa where Doe was ensconced in when Nigeria/ECOMOG
intervened in 1990 on the side of the Devil Doe. Taylor refused to be
deterred or intimidate and the resultant armed conflict or clash left
heavy casualties on all sides and the state paralyzed. In the follow up
NPFL was infiltrated and Prince Yomie Johnson was sponsored or supported
in betrayal and to help destroy Taylor. He led a counterfeit I-NPFL
apparently because NPFL then was synonymous with the people’s army.
But it was to no avail of getting rid of Taylor. What
followed in September 1990 was the capture and slaughter of the Devil
Doe by Johnson, apparently with the connivance of ECOMOG. This must have
been to remove the Doe factor in the crisis, appease Liberians and
possibly turn them against Taylor. This obviously did not work and
Johnson’s own factor was also there then.
Johnson himself also was eventually out played, lured out kept
hostage in Nigeria at lest to reduce complications. In any case the
collapse of the Liberia state lasted for almost eight years, essentially
because Nigeria/ ECOMOG would not let go Liberia or let Charles Taylor
have his way. Abacha carried over from where Babangida left at in 1993
on the policy thrust. But try as must as we could Liberia remained with
Taylor and a Vietnam for Nigeria. Ikimi
reports that Nigeria/ECOMOG eventually conducted a free and fair
elections in Liberia which Taylor won and was inaugurated as president.
What Ikimi would not want to highlight was the fact that it was out
frustration for them and that Taylor polled 80% of votes. However Taylor
was not allowed to rule or run the country as he was supposed to. On one
part ECOMOG was to organize the new army of Liberia, but Taylor did not
trust Nigeria as a neutral party and knew better than to put the
security of his government in their hand. He rather tactically
consolidated himself with the integration of NPFL into the army and
eventually expelled ECOMOG out of the country in shame. On
the other hand the US was never comfortable with Taylor. They obviously
considered him as being disrespectful and not open to them. They also
considered his activities and role in the Liberian neighbourhood or
region as pervasive and against their interests. When the us
failed to get Taylor’s cooperation or submission to their dictates
they imposed sanctions against his government. Taylor’s opponents and
opposition were therefore and by all these strengthened and supported at
home and aboard and gradually he was overwhelmed to give up power. And
to make sure there would be no way for him to continue he was curiously
also framed up as a scape goat for war crimes, not for the war in his
own country but that of another country ad without his physical
involvement. Of course this also has a political angle to it.
Taylor’s
problem and case was that of a struggle for survival, preservation and
sovereignty. He had to fight against both internal and external forces.
He had to destabilize by as much as possible safe havens for his enemies
and supported friendly government and movements, especially those that
helped his own mission and government. He also had to source for money
and friends from anywhere available or possible to run his government.
And while the fighting raged, no one heard of institutionalized
political murder, assassination of opponents or rivals or sending
troupes to commit genocide. The worst we heard was incarceration of
dissidents and fighting rebels by the rules. If
Taylor was hostile to Nigeria at a time, it was because of the role of
Babangida in particular in taking side to defend the devil Doe and
trying to stop Taylor at the 11th hour. Nigerians soldiers
and journalists in the front bore the direct brunt of this indiscretion
as part of their occupational hazard. The rest of us at home in any case
held the long end of the stick on our economy. Babangida and Abacha had
really no moral justification to go to Liberia or to insist on stopping
Taylor. Nigerians could either afford it nor ever supported the mission
and wastage in Liberia. Taylor
is or was a warlord and could never be found a saint or flawless. His
hands may be stained with blood and hence not worthy to build a house or
nation for the Lord. But he is not as crazy or as vicious as has is
being painted or portrayed by people like Ikimi. No one has said he is
or was corrupt at least not overtly and he is not really a criminal
either. Taylor helped Liberians to Liberate Liberia from the Devil Doe
and stood to defend his victory. He lost out eventually because of a
build up of forces too much for any one person and Nigeria contributed
to prolonging the strife as it were. Taylor
was indeed a man and still capable of taking the chances to fight on and
further the carnage. But he decided to cooperate with Nigeria to bring
about peace. In accepting exile or asylum in Nigeria he was wiser than
Saddam Hussein. He is or was David (not Moses) for Liberia. We own it to
him to give him his credits and to allow him rest and refuge as wells as
protection from his prosecutors. And this is very Biblical. What is
needed now for Liberia is a Solomon and prayers not to have an Absalom
or Jerobaom there. And let no one forget that it is also a war crime to
strike a fallen or a surrendered enemy. Thanks. |