Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday denied involvement in Tuesday's attack on the Presidential Palace in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea

It also expressed solidarity with the people of the country and congratulated the Equitorial Guinea government for repellingwhat it called 'cowardly action', by criminal elements.

Equatorial Guinea authorities had fingered Niger Delta militants in the attack launched on the country's presidential palace Tuesday.

Speaking to State House Correspondents in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, condemned in very strong terms the attack by the suspected militant on the presidential palace of Equatorial Guinea and dissociated Nigerian government from the attack.

According to him, "we are in solidarity with the people and the government of Equatorial Guinea as they confront this unfortunate threat and this unfortunate action and we hope they are able to apply the full force of law to deal with the elements that want to create problems. We send our message of solidarity and congratulate them as they were able to stem the attack".

Asked to clarify if Nigerian militants were actually involved, the minister said: "So far, the investigation we have been able to carry out shows that authorities in Equatorial Guinea themselves are not certain about the identities of those people. But whoever they are, whether they are militants from the Niger Delta or they are mercenaries outside Africa, because we have also had speculations.

"This kind of act should be condemned and it is the latest wake-up call for countries all over Africa, but particularly countries around the Gulf of Guinea to work more closely to share information, to share facilities, to share our collective strength in order to confront those who wish to destabilise the region.

"We have the capacity to do so as countries of the Gulf of Guinea and already, there is a lot of progress in terms of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), a meeting had just been concluded in Luanda and what we need to do is to get more action out of those meetings to ensure that the actual operational details of what needs to be done to ensure that this is not just a zone of tremendous prospects and emerging prosperity of oil resources but should also be a zone of peace and security".

Madueke also faulted the report that the government of Equatorial Guinea pointed accusing fingers at Nigeria as being responsible for the attack.

"When you mean Nigeria , I am sure they did not say the government of Nigeria is behind the attack".

Asked if the Nigerian government had begun investigations to ascertain the true identity of those involved, if indeed they were Nigerians, the minister said: "We are united with the government of Equatorial Guinea and indeed any other African country to confront any criminal elements on the continent that disturb the stability of the continent.

"If those criminal elements are from Nigeria, that is the more reason why we have the responsibilities to not only deal with criminal elements within our own laws but assist any other government that itself is also on the receiving end from that kind of criminality.

"You also know we are also facing challenges from Nigerians who have resorted to criminal actions as a way of not wanting to make a point. It is not like when somebody is a Nigerian; either is recruited or on his own he does the kind of thing that happened in Equatorial Guinea a while ago, that that Nigerian enjoys the support of the government.

"It is like saying that armed robbers in Nigeria, when they attack, whether Nigerians or foreigners, are doing so in the name of Nigeria. No, definitely not. The need for African government to work together to enhance the security architecture of the continent is strong, Nigeria will continue to do all that it needs to do in this direction as we send hands of solidarity, understanding and congratulations to Equatorial Guinea as they respond decisively; we appreciate that leadership on that matter of security. The security of Equatorial Guinea is also the security of Nigeria " he said.

Government also said it was not in a hurry to send troops to Somalia, as the circumstances under which Nigeria committed itself to sending troops there had changed hence the delay in deploying the troops.

Maduekwe pointed out that the situation had deteriorated far beyond mere peacekeeping and would require a peace enforcement mandate.

He stressed that Nigeria was still studying the situation as it was not in a hurry to start receiving body-bags from the war-torn country.

The US Permanent Representative to the UN Susan Rice had last week tasked Nigeria to redeem her pledge of sending a battalion to Somalia as part of an AU peacekeeping force to arrest the decline in that country. The US representative had said the UN Security Council had already discussed a support package for the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).