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Nigeria: Niger Delta - Presidency Rules Out UK Military Support
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This Day (Lagos)
23 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Ike Abonyi
Abuja
The idea of securing military assistance from the United Kingdom and other foreign interests as the next option for the troubled Niger Delta has been described as "unfounded" and "definitely not on the agenda" of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
The President's Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, disclosed this yesterday during an exclusive interview with THISDAY in Abuja.
It had been widely reported that the President sought the assistance of G8 countries to counter the "blood oil" syndrome in the Niger Delta and the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was reported to have promised Nigeria military support.
The President's visit to UK last week was also believed to be a step towards striking a military deal with the former colonial master, leading to protests by Nigerian activists in London.
"I wonder where some people got the idea that the government is adopting a military option to tackle the problem," Adeniyi said.
The Presidential spokesman said Yar'Adua had never sought direct military assistance from UK or from any government to fight any group.
"That is just part of the propaganda. How would the President bring the British military in? Just how?" he asked.
He said that the President had always believed in a peaceful resolution of the crisis "which we must admit has two fundamental phases".
According to him, "there is the challenge of development which he will tackle. And there is also the criminal element which he will confront. But because the problem has festered for long, the two now feed on each other but the president recognises that there is no problem that cannot be resolved through dialogue and instilling rule of law."
On whether the issue of Niger Delta was getting out of hand for the government, Adeniyi said the situation was not in anyway overwhelming the Yar'Adua Administration and that the Niger Delta Stakeholders Summit had not been dropped.
"In fact, I fail to understand the slant given the recent comment of the Vice President which was interpreted to mean the summit had been dropped. Fortunately, I was around when the VP made the statement in question and I heard what he said. The explanation of the VP was that if people feel so fixated about the word summit, which they erroneously connote to mean another jamboree, then they can call the stakeholders' engagement a dialogue or anything," he said.
On the insinuation making the round that President Yar'Adua might have been shielding some of his former colleague governors and friends from facing the law in the anti-corruption fight, Adeniyi described it as totally untrue.
According to the Presidential spokesman, "it is not always good to criminalise people who have not been convicted, whether they are former governors or political opponents. Every citizen should have the opportunity to defend himself in a competent court of law."
He said because of the extent of damage corruption had done to the system, Nigerians want faster means of dealing with the perceived offender "but the point is that we most often want to apply the law of the jungle for people we don't like. That goes against the spirit of the rule of law, which presupposes all accused innocent until proven guilty".
Adeniyi said that contrary to what some people say about his boss, the rule of law is not meant to protect any corrupt public official, whether former or serving.
He stressed that "the law is ever sure and while the process of conviction may be slow, under President Yar'Adua's watch, people who steal public funds will account for their deeds. However long it takes, as the Bible says, the sinner will not go unpunished".
On the impending cabinet reshuffle, Adeniyi said it would soon be carried out, pointing out that it is intended to rejuvenate the government toward delivering democracy dividends.
"The reshuffle will come because the President is a man of his words and there is nothing like delay. What most people forget is that the idea of the reshuffle is not just for the sake of it or to provide entertainment for anybody. It is to identify areas where things are not working as efficiently as the president wished and then make the requisite changes," he said.
He also denied that the President was insensitive to the plight of striking teachers.
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"I feel very sad about this but so does the President and you are not correct to say the attitude of government on the issue is lackluster. No, it is not. The problem is that the whole strike was designed to create a wrong impression that the federal government is the principal actor when the NUT [National Union of Teachers] officials are quite aware it is not within the purview of the president since he doesn't pay primary school teachers. You see, the problem is that perhaps because of decades of military rule, we have more or less created an all-powerful president who should be involved in everything and our democracy will never grow if we allow such notion to continue," he said.
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