Fear grips Nigeria’s UN mission staff over shoddy handling of Buhari’s itinerary

There are fears that heads may roll among Nigerian UN mission staff over the shoddy handling of President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to the 70th general assembly in New York.

A meeting has been fixed for later in the week for a “post mortem” on the embarrassing mistakes in what may now pass as medicine after death.

Buhari was prevented from meeting Pope Francis on Friday because his itinerary was muddled up and he arrived late to the event after taking a wrong gate to access the venue.

He also did not attend a sideline event to discuss the insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin and the attendant crisis of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

TheCable understands that the staff are now trading blames on who should be held responsible for the mistakes.

A government official said a very senior diplomat misled Buhari.

“The diplomat walked up to the president as he came down to the lobby of his hotel and led him away, assuring him of knowing the quickest route to the venue without getting proper briefing, only for him to be stopped by the UN security as the pontiff had already gone in.

“That was not the entrance for presidents, but he was taken to walk down that path and was turned back by the security,” the official said.

Journalists were advised to arrive the UN as early as 6am to get entry clearance to cover the papal visit at 10am, while heads of state, heads of government and delegates were advised to arrive “as early as possible”.

“The president is only supposed to be briefed and escorted to each event after officials of the Nigerian permanent mission and those on the Recce team have met for proper briefings and ironed out the president’s itinerary for each day,” the official added.

“The Recce team is usually drawn from protocol, media and security departments in the presidential villa and are usually briefed on arrival by Nigerian mission staff on what to expect and what has been slated for the president’s attention.”

A Nigerian delegate said he would be “surprised” if nobody is made to pay for the negligence that led to the embarrassment.

However, some embassy officials are blaming Joy Ugwu, Nigeria’s permanent representative to the UN, for the mix-up during pope’s visit.

She was accused of misleading the president into believing she knew the “best” route to the venue.

According to the source, “‎This was really embarrassing because it was not her job. She is to accompany the president to meetings if need be and not to dabble into areas that are clearly not in her brief. She should have let the right people who had been in constant touch with the UN ground rules lead the president.”

Buhari is also said to be “unhappy” for missing the event on Boko Haram and IDPs.

Cameroon, Niger and Chad — who are all affected by the insurgency — were fully represented and made contributions at the meeting.

Buhari instead attended a side event organised by the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS and the Office of the Special Adviser on MDGs.

“The president was not at fault as it was not listed among the events handed to him by the permanent mission staff,” the source further said.