There appears to be no end in sight to the diplomatic spat between Nigeria and Morocco, as Nigerian officials have insisted that a phone conversation did take place between President Goodluck Jonathan and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI last Friday while the monarch was in France.

According to sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the conversation focused on the president seeking Morocco’s backing for the election of Nigeria’s representative, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adewumi Adesina, as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in May 2015.

Morocco recalled its Ambassador to Nigeria for “consultations” on Monday after Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement refuting Rabat’s earlier one, that Jonathan was snubbed by the Moroccan monarch.


However, sources informed THISDAY that in furtherance of Nigeria’s objective to secure the presidency of AfDB, Vice-President Namadi Sambo had been designated special envoy to solicit the support of three countries, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt.

It was gathered that just last Thursday, the Foreign Ministry had received instructions from the Presidential Villa to facilitate Sambo's visit to the three countries.

In line with the instruction, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Ambassador Danjuma Sheni, reportedly made phone calls to the Nigerian missions in the countries to inform their hosts of the vice-president’s visit. The ambassadors of the three countries in Abuja were also formally informed of the impending visit.

Accompanied by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sambo was received by Algerian authorities last Saturday. His next port of call was supposed to be Rabat, but ahead of his visit, Moroccan authorities summoned Nigeria’s charge d’affaires in Rabat, Mr. B.B Hamman, and said they were not interested in receiving Nigeria’s special envoy.

In off the record conversations with highly credible sources, THISDAY gathered that Nigeria’s position on Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara has been a bone of contention in the diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the North African country.

“Morocco has been lobbying Nigeria and other African countries to withdraw their recognition of Western Sahara as an independent state, but we cannot do that because a focal point of our foreign policy is that there should be no colony on the continent.

“They probably also felt slighted that Vice-President Sambo chose to visit Algeria first, as Algeria is also an ardent supporter of the Saharawis,” one foreign ministry source said.

“So we played into their hands by soliciting their support for Adesina’s election. We didn’t know they would turn a non-issue such as a phone call into a big one. If they were not interested in receiving the VP, there was no need to make it public, after all, this is not unusual in diplomatic relations,” the source added.

Another source accused the Moroccans of deliberate mischief by taking advantage of the impending elections to allege that Jonathan wanted to play on the sentiments of Nigeria’s Muslim population.
“How does a Moroccan King backing any candidate influence votes in Nigeria?” the source queried.

The source further explained that Nigeria recalling its Moroccan ambassador in retaliation does not arise because Nigeria does not have an ambassador in the country at the moment.

“The last ambassador withdrew to participate in politics. We have a charge d’affairs, but you only recall officers of equal rank. It is unfortunate that they are making an unnecessary show, and recalling their ambassador.

“But it is also possible he is being recalled for punitive measures, maybe he misled his country on why we were sending an envoy there in the first place,” the source added.


But seeking to draw blood from the brewing diplomatic row, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the federal government to come clean with Nigerians on the cause of the ongoing diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and Morocco,
which had forced the Kingdom to recall its Ambassador to Nigeria, while portraying Nigeria as a liar.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president must in particular clarify the thorny issue of whether or not he spoke with King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

“According to published reports, the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry had said President Jonathan spoke on the telephone with the Moroccan King. But the Kingdom, in a very scathing statement, said no such conversation took place.

“The statement said ‘Morocco is surprised at the incredible twist given by Nigeria to an alleged phone conversation that never took place between HM King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President’.


“This is very serious because, in effect, Morocco has called Nigeria a liar. Therefore, it behoves President Jonathan to personally intervene to address such an international embarrassment.


“The questions seeking answers are: Did President Jonathan speak with the Moroccan King? If not, who is responsible for this egregious misrepresentation that has embarrassed a whole country and its leader?” it queried.

APC said Nigeria, because of its much-acclaimed leadership role in Africa, must not allow such a diplomatic faux pas to go without being addressed, adding that other countries are keenly watching the row between Nigeria and Morocco.

“Before anyone accuses us of politicising this issue, we make bold to say that we, the APC, and indeed all Nigerians are stakeholders in the Nigerian project. When Morocco branded Nigeria a liar, over whether or not our president spoke with the North African nation’s King, it did not mention PDP or APC. It made a collective reference to Nigeria.

“This is why we feel strongly that this issue must be addressed urgently. Until then, all Nigerians, irrespective of their political leanings, will remain liars in the eyes of the international community,” the party said.
Also, the APC presidential campaign organisation said the president by the diplomatic spat, had added one more in our diplomatic reversals with the country’s face-up with Morocco.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, the campaign organisation’s spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: “Right from Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Nigeria has been the pride of the black man. Before the Saharawi Republic, Jonathan stabbed the people of Palestine in the back.

“In international relations, domestic interest is part of international policy. In the case of Mr. Jonathan, it is the other way round. He is dictated to.

“Israeli President, (Benjamin) Netanyahu told his people that he just called the Nigerian president and he will now reverse his country's decision and that was what happened.


“You have a country that is serving other nations and not serving itself,” said the statement that appeared more like a personal opinion tainted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than the position of the APC, which sought clarification on whether a phone conversation took place or not.

However, it was not all knocks for the Jonathan administration, as the APC campaign body hailed the federal government and the military for their recent efforts at confronting the insurgents in the North-east.


Shehu said the ongoing international efforts to contain the attacks in the North-east, especially the collaborative engagement with Nigeria’s neighbours, has resulted in significant progress being made and should be commended.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ministry-morocco-mischievous-president-mohammed-vi-discussed-afdb-presidency/203990/

Na una sabi abeg.

Why would the King of Morrocco want to lie anyways?

As for me, I'm used to hearing lies from my own president so I'm inclined to think he's just being himself.

TS2:
Na una sabi abeg.

Why would the King of Morrocco want to lie anyways?

As for me, I'm used to hearing lies from my own president so I'm inclined to think he's just being himself.

Some one on the other side must have claimed to be the king. GEJ has been scammed.

Why is the presidency trying to bring in the SOUTH WEST into the feud so that we can reason he was fighting our course by trying to make Adeshina the AfDB Head? If he has issues with Morocco he should sort it out by not involving any ethnic group for political sentiments.

gabriel212:
Why is the presidency trying to bring in the SOUTH WEST into the feud so that we can reason he was fighting our course by trying to make Adeshina the AfDB Head? If he has issues with Morocco he should sort it out by not involving any ethnic group for political sentiments.

Why read tribal sentement in everything?