Day 9 of Nigeria's 7 Day Ultimatum!
The Nigerian Senate issued an "ultimatum" to the United States on Wednesday, January 6th, 2009. Counting that Wednesday itself, the seventh day of their ultimatum was Tuesday, January 12th. At the conclusion of the Nigerian ultimatum, the United States government had not made any moves toward rescinding its policy of intimidating Nigerians at U.S. airports.
On its first day back in session and at the conclusion of the seven day ultimatum, what action was taken up first by the Nigerian senate? According to the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard, the first order of business was "a motion seeking an investigation into the authenticity of the presidential assent of the 2009 N353 billion Supplementary Budget." This was somehow intended to challenge the Nigerian president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, to resume his office and take on the issue of intimidation by Western governments of Nigerian citizens. That action appears to have had little impact either upon Mr. Yar'Adua or upon government officials here in the United States.
On Wednesday, January 13th the Nigerian Senate debated a motion to honor the father of the underwear bomber for reporting his son to the American embassy and the CIA. Again according to a story in Vanguard, a weak commendation was passed as opposed to a stronger award of "national honor." Regarding the central issue raised in the seven day ultimatum, the Committee on Foreign Relations led by Senator Jibril Aminu has been given a mandate "to work with the American Senate to extricate Nigeria from the watch list for terrorists." Good luck on that one!
Labels: Africa, Government, NIgeria, Politics, Yar Adua
posted by Don Thieme @ 9:00 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
The Nigerian Senate issued an ultimatum to the United States without knowledge. They have not seen Former US Ambassador Princeton Lyman tell this story on SaharaTV, Nigeria is irrelevant. How to put the heads of our rulers is perhaps the new leadership challenge.
How to put the heads of our rulers on the chopping block is perhaps the next leadership challenge.
The reaction by Nigerian authorities has been, dare I say childish and lacking the sophistication and diplomatic finesse necessary to achieve any goals in either the short or long term.
@Beauty - Princeton Lyman is surprisingly knowledgable for an American diplomat who served under Republican as well as Democratic presidents. I believe that he has taken the Nigerian people's spirit in his heart and wanted to shake things up a bit in the forum hosted by Chinua Achebe.
@Solomonsydelle - I believe that the Nigerian Senate called this an "ultimatum" merely in order to give themselves another week of vacation time. Dora Akunyili has been making some sense, however.
Let's see what happens after the ultimatum ... :)
@imnakoya - Let's see what happens after the ultimatum!
I love your blog. So much useful information. Thank you.
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