Nigeria: Obasanjo averts Nigerian, Libyan security forces' face-off

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BUT for the intervention of President Olusegun Obasanjo, a diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and Libya as well as a clash of their security forces would have been ignited in Abuja yesterday.
Obasanjo had to step in as the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who was coming in for the ongoing Africa-South America (ASA) Summit, got embroiled with Nigerian security personnel at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja over an attempt to bring into the country a huge quantity of arms, well over the diplomatically accepted number.
The Libyan strongman, known for travelling with a large number of armed female security personnel, had well ahead of the summit booked enough rooms for his 200-member delegation to the summit as reported by The Guardian exclusively on Sunday.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), quoting Nigerian officials yesterday, said Gaddafi was accompanied by more than 200 heavily armed bodyguards.
According to agency reports, when security officers refused to allow them to keep their weapons, an argument ensued and Gaddafi reportedly stormed off and a face-off ensued until Obasanjo's intervention.
Verbatim report of the BBC on the matter went thus: "The size of Libya's delegation was not a problem, it seems. Just the sheer amount of weapons and ammunition they carried. So, Nigerian security refused to let them proceed to the capital....As arguments raged, the Libyan leader angrily set off on foot, intending to walk some 40km (25 miles) to the capital, before he was persuaded to return to the airport lounge."
The report further said of the stand-off, which lasted several hours, before the Libyans backed down: "By sheer coincidence, President Obasanjo was passing through the airport at the same time.... He intervened in person and proposed that the weapons could be allowed through if they were registered first.
"But the Nigerians say that was rejected and the Libyan delegation threatened to fly home.... Incensed, the Nigerians said that was fine with them and told the delegation that instead of the original compromise, they could now only carry eight pistols if they wanted to enter Nigeria, like any other diplomatic security detail.... They ordered that the rest of the weaponry had to be put back on the Libyan official jet."
However, at the summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Joy Ogwu, urged member countries of ASA to regard their new co-operation platform as an alliance for progress.
Outlining the imperatives of peace and security, as well as economic cooperation for transcontinental collaboration while opening the ministerial meeting of the summit at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, the minister, however, warned that the huge diversity of the people that make up Latin America and African countries "must never be allowed to compromise our alliance."
Ogwu declared yesterday that the present uni-polar world was one of alliances, coalitions and partnership, stressing that " there is a consensus between African and Latin American countries that peace and security must be the sentinels upon which development is anchored."
The Nigerian minister urged member countries to borrow a leaf from Brazil, India and South Africa, three emerging economies which have since formed a partnership to challenge the dominance of the northern hemisphere in global business as sustained by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The chairman of the high officials' meeting, the Permanent Secretary of Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Hakeem Baba Ahmed, also briefed on the ingredients of the draft declaration of the summit as well as the Abuja plan of action which is being prepared for the heads of state who meet today.
At the end of the ASA, the heads of state and government are expected to emerge with three important practical documents which will drive the cooperation and partnership between the two regions.
These include the declaration of the summit proper, the plan of action as well as its implementation strategy.