Leadership (Abuja)
Golu Timothy
17 November 2008
Abuja — Nigeria's first High Commisioner to South Africa,Ambassador Shehu Malami, yesterday expressed shock at media reports that he was disgraced by Immigration officials at the Johannesburg International airport on his way to attend the just-concluded Nigeria-South Trade Network Forum in Cape Town.
This is coming as the former envoy accused his predecessor, Ambassador Tunji Olagunji, of selling the official residence of Nigeria's High Commissioner in South Africa, located at the highbrow city of Cape Town.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the event yesterday in Cape Town,Malami said contrary to the report,"There was nothing close to what the reports said.
I was surprised that the media reported what did not happen at all.
We landed at the airport and continued with the normal processes of airport protocols.We were delayed by officials of the Immigration department for a long time without any reason.
We waited patiently for the officials to do their work and, at the end of it, many hours were gone.
We were not happy with such a long delay but, of course, had to abide by the rules. After some time, we were attended to.
Nigeria's High Commissioner to South Africa, Mohammed Buba Marwa, got to know about it and he was equally not happy about it.
He wondered how we could be delayed by Immigration officials without a reason.
He apologised to us for the delay we suffered at the airport and we appreciated his concerns.
That is all that happened. I was shocked that the media wrote a completely different thing, and I don't know where they got such erroneous information.
Malami,who was chairman of the Nigeria-South African forum, revealed that upon his redeployment in 1999 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo,he left a mansion that was purchased by the Federal Government for use by the High Commissioner, but was sold to an unknown buyer by Olagunji for no reason.
He said he did not make any mistake to have approached the late General Sani Abacha who approved that the house be bought,but that it was improper for his successor to make nonsense of the wisdom behind the action.
"I was appointed High Commissioner by the late Sani Abacha and reported fully in 1994.
I initiated the idea of the house to Abacha because the inconvenience of having to move from Pretoria to Cape Town was not an easy one.
The official house of the High Commissioner is in Pretoria, but being the seat of parliament, all the ministers come to Cape Town all the time to appear before the parliamentarians, and if you have to see the ministers,the best place to be is Cape Town.
Because of the absence of a house in Cape Town,you have to go back to Pretoria every day, which is two hours by air from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and then drive again to Pretoria.
I felt that getting an official house would solve this problem, so I pursued it until Abacha approved that money be released for us to buy a house.
I bought it in 1995 in a place called Frazinel,the best part of Cape Town. It is a predominantly white settlement. We use the house for serious diplomacy as these ministers were always invited for either lunch or dinner where we get them to discuss our problems.
The house also served as home to Nigerians who were in Cape Town,and it attracted all our neighbours who always come to us.
I am surprised that my successor,Tunji Olagunji, did not think twice but sold the house. He was quoted to have asked why we needed a house there.
It is only proper that the house be rebought. What is the reason behind the sale, and how much was realised from it? A lot of embassies have residences in Cape Town. Olagunji himself knows that all the South African ministers have houses in Cape Town, including Nelson Mandela, and, therefore, are always there, so why can't we do same to make Nigeria's work easier?
Malami called for an investigation into the sale of the house and maintained that Nigeria urgently and desperately needed a house in Cape Town to facilitate diplomacy between it and the host country,and to also help its citizens living in Cape Town.
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