Foreign mission alerted on ‘plot to blackmail Nigerian diplomats’

Th Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC) has drawn the attention of foreign missions to plot to blackmail the immediate past service chiefs. 

According to the group, the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) “and their cohorts” aim to criminally malign the country’s former military heads and ultimately scuttle their imminent confirmation as ambassadors.

The SHAC raised the alarm at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.

In his address, Ogbe Owoicho, director, foreign affairs, said the petition has all the handwritings of the Eastern Nigeria’s Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition.

Owoicho said it is laughable that the petitioners called for the diplomatic community to disqualify the former service chiefs.

While disclosing that such is the responsibility of the senate, Owoicho called on foreign nations to disregard the rants contained in the letters that were delivered to embarrass their diplomatic missions.

The group, however, urged the federal government to note that complacency is no longer an option in view of the repeated diplomatic salvos that the Eastern Nigeria’s Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition has fired against the country.

Read the statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, you must have read or learnt about the petition reportedly written by a coalition of NGOs to the diplomatic missions of as many as 31 countries. The subject of the said petition is to criminally malign the persons and personalities of the immediate past Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria viz: the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai (retd.), his air force and navy counterparts, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (retd.), and Vice Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas (retd.) and the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Abayomi Olonisakin (retd.).

The so-called coalition requested the 31 foreign missions in Nigeria to disqualify these eminent Nigerians, who President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated as ambassadors. They also want the recipients of their letters to declare these patriotic Nigerians as persona non grata in their countries.

Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC) has taken time to review news report of the petition and made certain findings that should concern Nigerians, including you, gentlemen of the press. 

In an unusual coincidence, majority of the signatories to the petition being distributed to embassies are from members who described themselves as the Eastern Nigeria’s Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition. The same coalition that lied about six soldiers of Igbo ethnicity were summarily court marshalled and executed just before the service chiefs retired from office. That report was promptly exposed as fake news and the intelligentsia coalition has not been able to prove otherwise, which makes their petition to the embassies another attempt at weaponizing information by twisting events and incidents out of context. 

Another interesting thing is that the coalition, which should have ordinarily been intelligent, given its name, is asking foreign countries to disqualify ambassadorial nominees of President Muhammadu Buhari, knowing that this is a role reserved exclusively for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Making this demand is proof that the coalition is nothing but a front for separatists, who do not believe in the corporate existence of Nigeria. It speaks to how they have no belief in their own roots and identity as Africans, inferior entities who must seek validation from imperialists before they can find semblance of purpose in life. . 

SHAC will make a little effort to educate the intelligentsia coalition in the hope that its members will put aside their fanaticism for a while, succumb to reason, and act like enlightened humans. The Diplomatic Missions they are petitioning do not have the powers to disqualify President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees. Diplomats at these missions can only advise their home countries, assuming the claims of the coalition has basis. The power to confirm these perfect gentlemen as ambassadors designate lies with the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The worst that can happen is for the countries to which they are posted to refuse accepting their letters of credence and it will take a country that is ready to see itself as declaring war on Nigeria to attempt such. 

It is pertinent that countries that profess themselves as friends of Nigeria immediately put this coalition in its place by asking its unhinged members to come and pick up the paper litter they left behind at their diplomatic missions in the name of petitions. These countries have to show mettle by confirming that they do not collaborate with terrorists to blackmail upright citizens of their partner nations.  They must affirm that they respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and will not do anything to jeopardize Nigeria’s interest. 

We urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to note that complacency is no longer an option in view of the repeated diplomatic salvos that the Eastern Nigeria’s Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition has fired against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is time for corresponding deterrence to be applied on the group and other groups operating similar agenda. At the very minimum the government should slam the groups in the coalition and the people behind them. Unless firm action is taken, they will continue to engage in actions that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty, which will not augur well.