Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Honourable Wole Oke, yesterday said President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s absence at the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, was a deliberate diplomatic protest.
Oke said it was "a deliberate diplomatic protest against the United States of America, whose body language towardsNigeria in recent times had been seen by the Federal Government as unfair."
This is coming on the heels of indications that Nigeria may pull out her troops serving in the United Nations peace keeping contingent in Darfur, Sudan, in protest over the seeming refusal by Washington and other world powers to appreciate its contribution to global peace.Oke said the Nigerian government had been uncomfortable with the rather frosty bilateral relations between Washington and Abuja, since the election of President Barrack Obama.
In an interaction with newsmen in Abuja, Oke said despite Nigeria’s favourable disposition and widespread support for the election of the first African American President of the United States, the first shocker was when Obama shunned Nigeria in his first visit to Africa and rather, chose to make uncomplimentary remarks about the country while in Ghana.As if that was not enough, Oke said the US Secretary of State,Senator Hilary Clinton, who finally visited Nigeria in the course of her tour of Africa, also chided the Nigerian government on the allegations that it has become less enthusiastic on the war against corruption.
He said in view of the developments, Nigeria has no businessretaining her peace keeping troops in Sudan, as her role in promoting world peace had not been appreciated by the United States of America. He lamented that despite Nigeria’s leading role in peace keeping operations in Africa and beyond, the United Nations did not accord her the honour of holding the commanding position in the peace keeping efforts in Sudan.“America is only after its own interest.
Our President is aware of this, and is uncomfortable with it. That is the reason he stayed away from the meeting. Although Federal Government was represented at the meeting by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, the absence of the President meant something was wrong,” he said.
According to Oke, the US can neither claim that Nigeria is not serious about anti-graft war, nor can it dictate to Nigeria on how to curb corruption, as corruption remains a global menace that cuts across various sectors and various climes. Nigeria, he said, has lately demonstrated some level of seriousness in the fight against corruption, given the fact that some persons hitherto believed to be sacred cows have been arraigned on charges of corruption.


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