The Punch newspaper of today (Tuesday, 30th August, 2011) carried an article on its back page titled "Libya: Nigeria's Foreign Policy faux pas". It was written by Sabelle Abidde of the Department of Humanities, Alabama State University, Montgomery, U.S.A. The article is available at this link: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110830231451
Below is my rejoinder to the article which I emailed to the author and the newspaper.
Dear Sabella Abidde,
I just read your article with the above title in today's Punch newspaper. I was drawn to it not just by the strategic back-page position it had in the paper but the compelling headline.
I was expecting a critical analysis of why you deemed the action of the Nigerian government, which even some strong critics of President Goodluck Jonathan had hailed as timely, proactive and forward-looking, a blunder. Reading through the piece, it appeared you felt recounting what you wrote about former President Olusegun Obasanjo's "betrayal" of Charles Taylor was enough proof of the error of Nigeria's decision to recognise the rebel transitional council in Libya. You did try to portray the Jonathan administration as pandering to Obama and the NATO countries but provided no empirical basis for this line of thinking. I didn't expect a mere rehash of baseless conspiracy theories about the west being behind the revolution in Libya.
What I found most interesting in your article was your effort to show that the Libyan revolution was not the same as that of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria which you dismissed as "the fabled Arab Spring”. I was expecting a lucid analysis to underscore this view but was disappointed that you offered none. Then you went on to eulogise Muammar Ghaddafi, despite his "shortcomings" as you noted, as having "ruled his country far better than most in the developing south". You described him as "a man who cared deeply for his country's ecology and who refused to mortgage his country to foreign concerns". Saif Ghaddafi could not have done a better job of laundering Muammar Ghaddafi's ignoble image of being the despotic tyrant which most Libyans knew him to be in the last 42 years!
It is surprising that you have not even reckoned with the wishes of the Libyan people in all these. You are convinced that the Libyan revolt was instigated by the west while the evidence is to the contrary. At what stage did the west get involved in the revolution? How could you so easily discount the Libyans' brave opposition to Ghaddafi's government which cost many of them their lives well before the west took notice?
Nigeria's decision to side with the Libyan people is arguably the best initiative we have taken in our foreign policy probably since the anti-apartheid struggle in which we played a leading role. What is the African Union waiting for? Is the hand-writing on the wall that Ghaddafi is history not clear enough? How does the AU expect to relate with the emerging government in Libya and the Libyan people hereafter? The AU has only knocked another nail in its coffin of irrelevance!
I applaud President Goodluck Jonathan for his leadership in the Libyan matter. The other African countries would inevitably recognise the National Transitional Council of Libya soon enough; but then it would be with shame and its tongue in cheek.
The self-serving camaraderie among African "leaders" which has being indulgent of the continent's sit-tight rulers with no regard for the legitimate aspirations of their long-suffering people must end. And who really are these African Union leaders whom Nigeria should not have broken ranks with regarding Libya? People like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who is been in power for 31 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon (29 years), Yoweri Museveni of Uganda (25 years), Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso (24 years), King Mswati III of Swaziland (24 years), Omar Bashir of Sudan (21 years), Idrissu Deby of Chad (21 years), Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia (20years), Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea (18 years), Yahya Jammeh of Gambia (17 years). What a company!!
I hope Nigeria continues to lead the way in acting on the side of African people, truth, justice, freedom and good governance on the African continent and indeed the world stage.
Best regards,
Eghes Eyieyien
30th August, 2011
Below is my rejoinder to the article which I emailed to the author and the newspaper.
Dear Sabella Abidde,
I just read your article with the above title in today's Punch newspaper. I was drawn to it not just by the strategic back-page position it had in the paper but the compelling headline.
I was expecting a critical analysis of why you deemed the action of the Nigerian government, which even some strong critics of President Goodluck Jonathan had hailed as timely, proactive and forward-looking, a blunder. Reading through the piece, it appeared you felt recounting what you wrote about former President Olusegun Obasanjo's "betrayal" of Charles Taylor was enough proof of the error of Nigeria's decision to recognise the rebel transitional council in Libya. You did try to portray the Jonathan administration as pandering to Obama and the NATO countries but provided no empirical basis for this line of thinking. I didn't expect a mere rehash of baseless conspiracy theories about the west being behind the revolution in Libya.
What I found most interesting in your article was your effort to show that the Libyan revolution was not the same as that of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria which you dismissed as "the fabled Arab Spring”. I was expecting a lucid analysis to underscore this view but was disappointed that you offered none. Then you went on to eulogise Muammar Ghaddafi, despite his "shortcomings" as you noted, as having "ruled his country far better than most in the developing south". You described him as "a man who cared deeply for his country's ecology and who refused to mortgage his country to foreign concerns". Saif Ghaddafi could not have done a better job of laundering Muammar Ghaddafi's ignoble image of being the despotic tyrant which most Libyans knew him to be in the last 42 years!
It is surprising that you have not even reckoned with the wishes of the Libyan people in all these. You are convinced that the Libyan revolt was instigated by the west while the evidence is to the contrary. At what stage did the west get involved in the revolution? How could you so easily discount the Libyans' brave opposition to Ghaddafi's government which cost many of them their lives well before the west took notice?
Nigeria's decision to side with the Libyan people is arguably the best initiative we have taken in our foreign policy probably since the anti-apartheid struggle in which we played a leading role. What is the African Union waiting for? Is the hand-writing on the wall that Ghaddafi is history not clear enough? How does the AU expect to relate with the emerging government in Libya and the Libyan people hereafter? The AU has only knocked another nail in its coffin of irrelevance!
I applaud President Goodluck Jonathan for his leadership in the Libyan matter. The other African countries would inevitably recognise the National Transitional Council of Libya soon enough; but then it would be with shame and its tongue in cheek.
The self-serving camaraderie among African "leaders" which has being indulgent of the continent's sit-tight rulers with no regard for the legitimate aspirations of their long-suffering people must end. And who really are these African Union leaders whom Nigeria should not have broken ranks with regarding Libya? People like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who is been in power for 31 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon (29 years), Yoweri Museveni of Uganda (25 years), Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso (24 years), King Mswati III of Swaziland (24 years), Omar Bashir of Sudan (21 years), Idrissu Deby of Chad (21 years), Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia (20years), Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea (18 years), Yahya Jammeh of Gambia (17 years). What a company!!
I hope Nigeria continues to lead the way in acting on the side of African people, truth, justice, freedom and good governance on the African continent and indeed the world stage.
Best regards,
Eghes Eyieyien
30th August, 2011
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