In Defence of Nigeria

By

Kevin Etta Jr.

kettaj@msn.com

 

 

I wish to comment on an article in the Guardian Newspapers of Sunday, May 22, 2005 titled: “How Taylor Corrupts Nigerian Officers” by Laolu Akande in New York.

 

Evidently, an organization called The Coalition for International Justice recently presented a report to the U.N. that made damning reading. It alleged that Nigerian security officials guarding Charles Taylor are on his payroll and that as a matter of course Taylor routinely offers bribes to Nigerian state and local officials, i.e. to officials of the Nigerian government. Each member of Taylor’s Nigerian security detail is paid $200 per month as against their official salary of $80 per month or less.

 

The information becomes more critical when it delves into the specific manner by which Nigerian government officials are being compromised through bribes offered by Taylor. We are told that Taylor receives a regular influx of luxury cars from a close confidante and courier which he in turn gives as gifts to senior Nigerian state and local officials. The report concludes rather frighteningly that the Nigerian government does not provide any oversight over Taylor and as a result the former Liberian ruler is continuing to influence the politics of Liberia against the clear terms of his asylum.

 

I am shocked that this report has not generated more interest within the Nigerian press and among the political class than is evident since its release. There is no hint or renewed sense of urgency or a change of tempo where reporting or commentary on the Charles Taylor affair is concerned. Our politicians and elder statesmen do not seem to have taken this up as a renewed challenge fired by the recent disclosures and allegations of The Coalition for International justice. And our National Assembly? This does not appear to have resonated with them either as an event requiring serious attention or evaluation within the context of its implications for Nigeria’s national security.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that any alien resident of Nigeria, talk less of someone with Charles Taylor’s antecedents, may have officers of the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service on his payroll is a breach of national security of the utmost seriousness. The fact that any alien resident of Nigeria of Charles Taylor’s antecedents may, as a matter of course, be offering bribes of any kind to officials of the Nigerian government at any level also constitutes a serious breach of Nigeria’s national security.

 

The fact that Charles Taylor may in fact be guilty of influencing the internal politics of Liberia in breach of the terms of his asylum is a situation that seriously undermines Nigeria’s credibility as a practicing democracy committed to justice, equity, and the security of the West-African sub-region and beyond. The fact that Charles Taylor is alleged to have been involved in a recent assassination attempt on Lansana Conte the Guinean president on January 19, 2005, while in the custody of Nigeria is a matter that seriously prejudices Nigeria’s national security, credibility, and foreign policy. I cannot fathom how Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is still able to find it within himself to defend his offer of asylum to Taylor and his shielding of Taylor from the Special Court in Sierra Leone in these circumstances, and how the Nigerian elite can be comfortable with such a position in the face of incontrovertible evidence of its sheer stupidity.

 

What about the Nigerian citizenry? How can we continue to allow this president to disregard every known norm, practice, and law, known not only to Nigerian statute but to International statute as well? This president has absolutely no concept of the law and considers himself an outlaw, i.e. one who acts outside the ambit of the law and is a law unto himself. The attitude of Obasanjo in single-handedly offering asylum to a war criminal and international terrorist despite the unpopularity of the act within Nigeria is the height of inhumanity and lawlessness in itself.

 

There is no way the United States would offer protections of any kind  to a terrorist who had killed Americans among his many victims, and that is why the average American on the street is willing to die for his country.

 

But in Nigeria, notwithstanding the fact Charles Taylor killed dozens of Nigerians with impunity during Liberia’s civil war, among them prominent journalists, Obasanjo asked Nigerians to “forgive him” and proceeded to grant him asylum under obscene circumstances of opulence in Calabar, Cross River State, against the widespread revulsion expressed by Nigerians far and wide. This is unconscionable.

 

No wonder this president has sponsored anarchy and civil war in Anambra State -- he is enamored with Charles Taylor and his methods. Obasanjo even declared at one point that the Anambra affair is “beyond constitutionality and legality” all because Ngige would not honor a “gentleman’s agreement” between himself and Chris Uba -- a confessed criminal who subverted the constitution through election rigging -- by signing over state resources at Chris Uba’s request. Thank God for the Supreme Court of Nigeria in making it abundantly clear to the president and his party, the PDP, that the Anambra affair is not a “family” affair but a constitutional and a legal one.

 

Alas, this same lawless president proclaimed publicly that he would not respect the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of the “illegal” withholding of Lagos State Council funds – yet he continues as president of Nigeria unperturbed and with his fur unruffled.

 

Have we no pride as Nigerians? Whatever happened to us over the past 6 years? Do we want to continue as one Nigeria? I tell you my people, if we continue to allow this man with no controls to continue running the ship of state unaccountably we might as well give a loaded weapon to a three year old and be resigned to the consequences. Obasanjo is destroying Nigeria, and it doesn’t matter whether you are Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ibibio, Ijaw, Kanuri, etc. At the end of the day we are all going to suffer the same fate.

 

Think of the manner by which our national security has been compromised by this administration’s adamant insistence on granting Taylor asylum in Nigeria, to the extent that sections of our security forces are currently on his payroll. To whom do you think they owe their loyalty now that they are being paid in Taylor’s dollars?

 

No nation is invincible, much less a faltering nation-state like Nigeria. Remember 9/11, when the great U.S.A. was humbled. I was watching the break-room TV on my lunch break at work in Dallas when George Bush was being interviewed in the Oval Office after the attacks. They almost had to discontinue the interview because Bush broke into an uncontrollable sob in full view of the cameras while reviewing the horror of that terrible day. Look at the terrorist attacks in parts of Europe and the Far East, all acts of horror perpetrated by agents of destabilization in the midst. A nation is only as strong as its weakest link and therefore must be prepared for the unwanted and readied towards the unbelievable.

 

Looking at the way Nigerian government officials run the affairs of government and the way the citizenry are resigned to whatever fate befalls them without holding any to account, we need to be afraid. We need to be very afraid, because all the ingredients are there for a national and regional catastrophe. May God save us.

 

My people, we need to wake up. There are instruments and provisions for holding an administration to account and making certain the business of government is conducted with the welfare and security of the general public in the uppermost priority. Nigeria is at a crossroads and the decisions we make today will have telling effects and resonate far into the future.

 

Presently, I call on the Nigerian government to investigate the allegations of security breach amongst the Nigerian security detail guarding Charles Taylor and the bribery allegations against members of the state and local government with a view to resolving any threat to Nigeria’s national security.

 

Beyond that, the fact remains that under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria is in serious trouble. I rest my case.