Daily Independent (Lagos)
Chesa Chesa
6 January 2009
Nigeria will support the suspension of Guinea from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when the body's Heads of State meet in Abuja on Friday to discuss the military coup in that country.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, told journalists after meeting with President Umaru Yar'Adua that the Heads of State's parley will approve the suspension of Guinea, which the African Union (AU) has already suspended.
He said Nigeria does not recognise the junta because there is no room for double standards under the AU commitment to democracy on the continent.
"Nigeria has no business with that government in terms of formal recognition or formal relationship as a government, absolutely nothing. And we know that ECOWAS will officially go in the same direction.
"We cannot have double standards on this issue. I called for sanctions on Mauritania and other Foreign Ministers agreed to it," he stated.
What about Senegal's recognition of the Guinean junta? Maduekwe was asked.
His reply: "If any member of the AU, that is a legitimate government, steps outside the ranks of other members to fraternise with the military junta, I'm sure the collective wisdom of the leadership the AU will find a way of even sanctioning that government."
He said Nigeria's congratulations to Ghana over its election would be displayed by "a strong Presidential delegation" to the swearing in ceremony of John Attah-Mills tomorrow.
"But let it be on record that while I congratulate the people of Ghana for the success of the election, I take umbrage at our self-deprecating tendency here in Nigeria where we always think we must learn lessons from everywhere else but not from Nigeria.
"We will learn lesson from Barack Obama, we will learn lesson from Ghana, and I think somebody else was talking about learning lesson from Kenya; the grass is greener everywhere else other than Nigeria.
"This is the home of the devil himself, nothing is right about this country, neither the politicians nor even the media, nor the church leaders, nobody is doing right here, we must keep learning from them everywhere. I am sick and tired of that.
"We wish Ghanaians well, we congratulate them; but we need not draw any lessons from Ghana. All the lessons we need are here in Nigeria and we are making use of those lessons.
"For goodness sake, Nigeria is moving, we are a work in progress, we are correcting our faults, we have one great virtue which sometimes can be a vice - we are very self critical.
"Nobody can criticise Nigeria like Nigerians themselves, that is a good thing, but when we over do it, it becomes self destructive, and at the end of the day outsiders will use the very thing we are saying to undermine us."
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