Friday, July 17, 2009

President Obama Is Coming Soon!

We have heard the good news from the Foreign Affairs Minister. Dr Ojo Maduekwe noted that President Obama will be visiting Nigeria very soon. The Minister was quoted in the media saying President Obama told him at the G8 meeting (shortly before he departed for Ghana) that he wants to visit Nigeria soon. In fact he went on further to say that the US President said to him that “whichever way Nigeria goes, Africa goes”.

Following President Obama visit to Ghana last week, I have been waiting anxiously for one of President Yar’Adua’s political jobber to come of in defence of his administration. The well-deserved media criticisms were so bad that I expected his Media Adviser to come out and save the face of his boss.

I was therefore not surprised to read the comments of Dr Maduekwe that Pres. Obama is coming soon to Nigeria. It is clear that the Yar’Adua administration is very desperate to be acknowledged by the western world. No wonder the Pres. Yar’Adua lobbied the German Chancellor to be invited to the G-8 meeting. We probably need to ask ourselves, how can a country that was not fit to be part of G-20 meeting about six months ago was now been invited to the G-8 meeting?

However, I don’t think Dr Maduekwe understood Pres. Obama statement. If Pres. Obama’s statement is taken within the context of his speech in Ghana, then Dr Maduekwe will understand that there is really nothing to be excited about. For me, I find Pres. Obama’s statement as sarcastic. Meaning he was insulting the Nigerian government indirectly. What Pres. Obama was indirectly saying to Dr Maduekwe was, I will visit Nigeria, soon after you have been able to restore good governance.

Also, the question needs to be ask about the Nigerian government and the PDP obsession with Pres. Obama. Is it not the ruling party that was accusing the US govt for wanting to meet with the opposition during Pres. Obama’s visit to Ghana? I want to believe that it’s Pres. Obama prerogative to visit countries and meet people that he feels are worthwhile of his time? Instead of this government to get on with its job, they are busy lobbying and trying to grab the attention of the US President. We don’t need attention-seekers as leaders. If you do what is right, you will be noticed. As small as Botswana is, it received a well deserved recognition from the US President. I also can’t remember reading anywhere that Ghanaian diplomats were seen at the White House lobbying the US President to visit Ghana. The reason why he chose Ghana is clear, “do the right thing, and the US will do business with you”.

Again come to think of it, was President Yar’Adua not at the G-8 meeting? If Pres. Obama was really serious about visiting Nigeria, he probably would have spoken directly with the Nigerian President and not the Minister! Dr Maduekwe said “I did what a Foreign Minister of my status can do; I walked up to the President of United States and I said Mr. President, nice to meet you; I’m the Foreign Minister of Nigeria. Mr. Obama was very warm when I introduced myself. Mr. Obama held me by the shoulder. He told me, ‘thank you Mr. Minister I want to visit your country very soon”. My take on this is, Pres. Obama probably knew why Ojo Maduekwe came to introduce himself, and thought, “let me just tell this guy what he wants to hear”.

Let Pres. Yar’Adua and his cohorts not be deceived, Pres. Obama has made it clear that the US will not endorse any government that promotes tyranny and oppression. It will not support any nation that does not promote the rule of law. It is not ready to do business with regime that actively or passively encourage corruption. It will do business with a country whose Attorney-General uses international bilateral agreements to frustrate corruption cases. It will support a regime that was sponsored into government by corrupt individuals. It will not support a government, whose President’s closest friends are politicians with corruption cases hanging over their heads. The US will not support a government that cannot hold credible elections in 46 electoral wards. The US will not support a government that embarks on military actions against its citizens.

2 comments:

Ola said...

Absolute poppy-cock.

Why on earth would ANY leader of a G8 state arrange to visit another state with a Foreign Affairs Minister? Much less a US president with a Nigerian FAM.

"I did what a Foreign Minister of my status can do; I walked up to the President of United States and I said Mr. President, nice to meet you". Admittedly, I'm a bit rusty on my international relations protocol, but I find it quite remarkable that a man of Dr Maduekwe's "status" can simply walk up to the US President and introduce themselves as if they were at the some dinner party!!

Nigerian politicians need to WAKE UP!! Stop embarressing us, even if you don't mind embaressing yourselves. Making up stories about arranging state visits with the US Pres is a pathetic attention-seeking stunt which wouldn't look out of place in a school playground. Get your finger out, get your house in order, or leave and make way for someone who can get the job done!!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm..........here we go again!!Keeping up with the jones's or should i say band wagon effects.If president Obama's fabricated proposed visit to Nigeria in the nearest future is anything to go-bye,according to Ojo Madueke(Foriegn affairs minister).Would the proposed visit by president Obama improve our GDP,Power supply,bad roads or better still our security?May be it will improve our security during his alleged proposed visit,especially in FCT and its environs for two or three days.
If we are to be honest with ourselves,i personally opposed to the idea of lobbying an American president to visit our country either now or in the nearest future,because i don't think we are really ready for such state visit.Firstly,our public tertiary teachers are on nation wide strike over payment dispute and we as nation thinking of Obama's visit to Ghana and not Nigeria,i guess we have all forgotten that such visit are always capital intensive.Secondly,it will stretch our resources and crippled our already under perform security systems for those two or three days and,Lastly,his proposed fabricated visit should be the other way round i.e He should be the one asking our government for invitation as a sign of improvement in our democracy or governance.Anything contrary to all these observations must be opposed and condemned by all progressive Nigerians.