Enter: Muscle-flexing diplomacy

It was truly bad that our federal government can admit to something as shady as buying arms from another country, to the tune of several millions, without the knowledge of the appropriate government channels of the host nation. It is equally disheartening for us to note that we are yet to be given an adequate […]

It was truly bad that our federal government can admit to something as shady as buying arms from another country, to the tune of several millions, without the knowledge of the appropriate government channels of the host nation. It is equally disheartening for us to note that we are yet to be given an adequate reason why our government resorted to such a deal, in raw cash, when the official refrain is that we are operating a cashless economy where even much smaller amounts have to be moved electronically.
Additionally, everything about this issue smirked of a scandal, yet beyond the desperate bid to exonerate Pastor Oritsejafor, owner of the jet in which the money was laundered, no one saw the need to tell us why our government should embark on a secret arms deal, in a sister African nation like South Africa, when bi-lateral trade has always been one of the strongest bonds between us? What was the secrecy in aid of, if indeed these weapons were meant for Nigerian armed forces?
While these questions remain unanswered, we were amazed to hear our government officials spitting fire and accusing South African companies of benefitting so much from Nigeria and being ungrateful enough to bite the fingers that fed them. Is this the way to manage a scandal of such magnitude?  Are MTN and DSTV owned by South African government? These are privately-owned companies set up here in partnership with Nigerian investors. How can threatening them be of any help to the situation we find ourselves in regarding the cash-for-arms scandal?
And even if they are owned by the South African government, how can putting them on the spot solve the problem created by our government’s shameless attempt at money-laundering? For sure, the recent AFP report that quoted an NSA official threatening to deal with South African companies over this secret arms deal is the most embarrassing and tactless statement ever credited to a Nigerian official, in recent times.
According to the AFP, ‘Nigeria has threatened retaliation against major South African companies, including telecom giant MTN, if a spat over blockade of an arms purchase is not resolved.’ Then, an unnamed official of the NSA was quoted as saying ‘The issue could affect bilateral relations between Nigeria and South Africa.’ The report further says that the official specifically mentioned MTN…as a company that could be targeted in tit-for-tat reprisals. ‘You cannot be making so much money from Nigeria and then turn around and embarrass the people’ the official added.
Personally I think it is this official who embarrassed us. How could anybody speaking for our government, display such crass ignorance of state affairs, that he believes our government can punish foreign companies for the sins of their government? In any case South Africa’s only fault was that of having alert and capable immigration officials who were able to uncover the plan to smuggle so much hard cash into their country. None of what they did was wrong; not arresting the two Nigerians and their Israeli accomplice and certainly not impounding the money and announcing the plot to the world.
All the steps taken by South Africa were in order because the secret arms deal has violated all known Nigerian and international laws regarding foreign trade and monetary transfers. Why then can we not eat humble pie by apologizing, promising to avoid such in future and then begging for the return of both money and the captured launderers so we can deal with the matter?
How can we start acting so haughty and boastful by saying we will retaliate on South African investments in Nigeria? We cannot say where this official or his superiors went to get their lesson in international relations but their attempt at muscle-flexing diplomacy certainly reeks of ignorance and lack of finesse. If this so-called NSA official was really speaking for government, then let someone superior to him rise and repair the damage done by him, through saying something more appropriate to the matter at hand.
For now my compatriots and I will not be impressed by any hard-hitting rhetoric meant to blackmail South Africans into silence over his matter. What we would like to know are answers we’ve been asking since the news of the 9.3 million dollar haul broke.  Who are the two Nigerians accompanying the money to effect the illegal arms deal? Who Is the Israeli and what is his role in the project. Why did our government violate international laws by attempting to transfer such an astronomical sum in cash, when electronic transfers are the order of the day? What is the connection between the arms deal and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, that the government chose to use his private jet rather than its fleet of bigger planes to effect the purchase?
 While we await these answers, we wish to remind the National Assembly to remember its obligation to Nigerians by investigating this matter to its logical conclusion. In the light of the serious security challenges facing our nation, we cannot afford to sweep a matter of this magnitude under the carpet. At this point, I wish to sincerely commend the three lecturers from Bayero University Kano who, along with two others, sued President Goodluck Jonathan and four others at the Federal High Court in Kano; over the attempt to smuggle 9.3 million dollars into South Africa in order to buy arms.
Dr Sa’idu Ahmad Dukawa, Dr Salisu Shehu, Malam Isa Ibrahim Garba as well as Kamilu Hassan and Umar Jibrin Gwandu have filed a 25-page suit demanding the president to explain whether his claim to have authorised ‘the transaction in question, in violation of extant domestic and international laws amounts to a breach of his oath of office and an abuse of power.’
This legal action is commendable and it’s my hope that steps like these will get us the answers we so desperately need from our government. Right now they may flex muscles and talk tough but if we insist hard enough, they will still have to let us know what the secret arms deal was all about.