…………. Xenophobic Attacks On Nigerians Are Not Deliberately Targeted – Amb Wali
More facts have been revealed as to what led to the suspension of the Permanent Secretary, Foreign Affairs Ministry.
It was learnt that President Goodluck Jonathan was not informed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry before the recall of the country’s Ambassadors from South Africa over xenophobic attacks.
According to a source within the Presidency, the sack of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Danjuma Nanpon Sheni may not be unconnected to the controversy associated with the purported recall of the envoy to South Africa by the government over xenophobic attack in that country.
The source disclosed that the President was enraged because he was not informed before the Foreign Affairs Ministry took the decision to recall the envoy making the government to be forced to retract the action.
According to him, the recall practically embarrassed the President and this prompted Jonathan to have a protracted meeting with the foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Aminu Wali and other top government officials till the wee hours of yesterday (Tuesday).
At the meeting, the President was said to be miffed at the embarrassment the purported recall had caused the nation diplomatically
The President consequently has ordered the suspension of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Danjuma Nanpon Sheni.
It would be recalled that the ministry had also caused the nation some diplomatic discomforts recently when a phone call was said to have been exchanged between the King of Morocco and Jonathan which was refuted first by the monarch and later by the president.
The development resulted into diplomatic spat between the two countries as Morocco withdrew her Ambassador from Nigeria in protest.
The source also hinted that the minister would have lost his job but for the fact that the government is winding down its activities ahead of handing over to the new administration by May 29.
The suspended Permanent Secretary, he disclosed, was first issued a query before being suspended, while another official was directed to replace him with immediate effect.
The Presidency source said: “President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Danjuma Nanpon Sheni for causing him the embarrassment.
“In this age of diplomatic dispatches, you don’t need to recall or invite anybody before you ask questions. He was also queried.
“The minister himself would have been fired if not because we have just one month to go. In less than two months, they had embarrassed the government.
“They did the same mess in the Morocco saga. They were issuing statements without the president’s approval” the source added.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Aminu Wali, yesterday told the Senate that there were no deliberately targeted attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa in the recent xenophobic attacks against African immigrants resident in the country.
Wali who stated this when he led other junior ministers in the ministry, including, Musiliu Obanikoro, to appear before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to intimate the lawmakers on the situation in South Africa concerning the attacks, also gave the impression that the Senate was too quick to pass resolution that the Nigeria’s envoys in South Africa should be recalled.
The Senate had last week Tuesday, passed resolutions, which among others, summoned the Minister of Foreign Affairs to appear before its Committee on Foreign Affairs, in order to brief it on the situation and measures taken so far by the Federal Government to safeguard the lives and property of Nigerians in South Africa, as swell as demanding the recall of Nigeria’s envoys in the country.
Reacting to questions from the Senators, Wali noted that Nigerians in the South Africa suffered minimal losses in the attacks, allegedly instigated by the Zulu King, pointing out that the South African assailants targeted the Ethiopians, Zimbabweans and the Malawians other than Nigerians.
He appealed to the Senators to rescind their resolution that the Federal Government should recall Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, stressing that even the countries whose citizens were the targets did not take such stringent step of recalling their envoys.
He also told the Committee that the South African President, Jacob Zuma, made impressive effort by mobilizing the soldiers to assist the Police to quell the xenophobic attacks.
Wali further said that the South African Human Rights Commission had commenced an investigation into the incident, and therefore pleaded that Nigeria should not because of this singular problem severe its diplomatic relations with South Africa.
Updating the legislators on the losses suffered by Nigerians during the crisis, the Minister said that only two Nigerians were wounded and hospitalized while two families including six women and eight children were displaced in the crisis. He also said that five shops belonging to Nigerians were looted.
Wali further appealed to the senators that Nigeria should continue to play the big brother role she has been known for over the years, saying, “we should not allow this particular incident to mar the image we have built over the years”.
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