Dele Momodu, journalist and former presidential candidate,
says Nigeria’s foreign policy under the leadership of President Muhammadu
Buhari is the weakest that he knows.
In an interview with PUNCH, Momodu who condemned the ill
treatment meted out to Nigerians in Ghana, said the president is handling the
issue with levity.
He said Buhari lacks understanding in terms of foreign
policy and has not been receiving the necessary advice.
“A lot of people have complained that a lot of the ministers
don’t see President Buhari and he himself actually gave a hint when he said
during the time of mallam Abba Kyari, his late chief of staff, that they should
go through his chief of staff. That is part of the problem,” he said.
“If you have a president that is accessible, who they can
explain these things to and he would understand them, that would have helped.
“Also, speaker of the house of representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, would not have gone to Ghana if he had not got a tacit approval
from the presidency.
“If the President had told him that Ghana was maltreating
our people and that we couldn’t go there now until the issues were resolved, he
wouldn’t have gone.
“Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo would not have allowed such. He is so respected in Ghana that
the longest street in Accra is named after him – Olusegun Obasanjo Way.
“So, nobody would try such with Obasanjo; it’s not possible,
because he understands foreign policy. But, perhaps, if any president in Africa
calls him (President Buhari) and massages his ego and tells him, ‘Baba, the
issue is not like that,’ he would believe them because foreign policy is not
his forte.
“If this interview gets to his desk, I’m hoping that as
someone who supported him in the past, he would allow his officials or
knowledgeable people to help him. He has a lot of bright minds in his cabinet.
“You have a vice-president who would have handled all these
things for you perfectly, but if you don’t give him that task, he can’t go
there on his own.
“People like
(Babatunde) Fashola, who used to go to Ghana to play football as the chief of
staff to former governor Tinubu, are there too.
“So Baba (Buhari) desperately needs to wake up in terms of
foreign policy. His foreign policy is the weakest that I know.”
Momodu explained that diplomacy is not about nice words but
about “reciprocity”, noting that Nigeria is “not pursuing diplomacy of
reciprocity” which is why other countries take advantage of her “weakness”.
“If I were Buhari, last week I would have suspended our
relationship with ECOWAS; let all the presidents in ECOWAS go and talk to their
colleague in Ghana to relax. Like I said, diplomacy is not about nice words,”
Momodu said.
“I felt depressed and
scandalised when I read that the speaker of the house of representatives, Hon.
Femi Gbajabiamiala, was travelling to Ghana. There is nothing wrong with going
to Ghana but not in the middle of this crisis, unless there was a guarantee
that before he would leave Accra, they would have opened the shops.
“If a country is hostile to you, this could have been the
best opportunity to tell them that even if you are invited to a parliamentary
session, you tell them you are sorry, you are not able to come. That is what
Donald Trump and people like that would have done. They would cancel it and
send a strong message.
“Nigeria has refused to send any strong message to any
country. The worst of it was South Africa, not even Ghana. People died, yet
they would invite your president to come and they will be doing a brigade of
guards.”
He added that another reason Nigerians are disrespected
globally “is that they know we amount to nothing in our own country”.
“Why are people running away in droves? If their home
country is good, many people will likely not go to Ghana,” he added.
Momodu appealed to the federal government to set up an
intervention fund to help Nigerians in Ghana who have been affected by the
closure of shops.
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