Can someone please confirm the latest news that Charles Taylor has escaped. This will be a very sad development for Nigeria.

It seems he has escaped .
To my mind it seems the government does not really want to give him up so they can easily him allow to escape.
I am not saying they helped him to escape,but that would be a good way of not giving him up. I simpy don't trust this government.

This link all but confirms it- http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-28T122022Z_01_L28201427_RTRUKOC_0_UK-NIGERIA-TAYLOR.xml&archived=False

ABUJA (Reuters) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes by a court in Sierra Leone, has disappeared from his residence in southeastern Nigeria, the presidency said on Tuesday.

A statement said Nigeria would investigate whether Taylor had escaped or been abducted. President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered the arrest of all security staff attached to Taylor, who has lived in exile in Nigeria since 2003.

Sad country, the president himself should be held accountable by the Liberian Govt in my opinion.

obasanjo is a joke. absolute total joke.

It's all a conspiracy.

You guys are making me sick did OBJ free this man? when ALAM escape from Britain, did anyone blame Tony Blair? all the security operative have been arrested, there is more to this story, people just watch close as the drama unfolds

There is nothing they can do to BABA, charles will be caught and that is for sure, and if indeed this man is a war criminal, he should be brought to justice,

No doubt, OBJ has a hand in that mans escape. He will be caught, whether OBJ likes it or not. Stupid man.

Taylor missing from Calabar home
Liberian warlord and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor is reported to have disappeared from the haven Nigeria had granted him just as he was to have been handed over to face trial. Reports say Taylor disappeared Monday night from his villa in the southern town of Calabar. Last week, Nigeria agreed to surrender him to stand before a U.N. tribunal on charges related to civil war in his homeland and its neighbour Sierra Leone, but the logistics of his handover had not been worked out. A government statement said that President Olusegun Obasanjo was creating a panel to investigate "the disappearance on Monday night , of Mr. Charles Taylor, former Liberian leader, from his residence in Calabar." The statement raised the possibility he might have been abducted, but did not elaborate on that. A presidential spokeswoman said members of Taylor's Nigerian security detail had been arrested. The presidential statement offered no details on how Taylor's disappearance was discovered or whether he was being hunted. Dozens of people who had been living with Taylor in the villa in a walled government compound had left Monday and were flying to Lagos en route to an unknown destination.

Source: www.guardiannewsngr.com. Breaking News.

Give billions of dollars and I will fetch out Taylor

Anybody thinking Nigeria will hand over taylor to liberia government doesn't know naija well(naija ile)the people rulling nigeria at the moment are bunch of criminals and homosexuals,they are men and women of no honours,bunch of illetrate and arrogant scumbags,in the day of judgment all of these bastards will burn in hell.

Let's all get Smart!
Charles Taylor first escaped from the US Penitentiary to start the way in Liberia.
Now he has 'escaped' from Nigeria.
Let's hear the reaction of the West! _{Remember no one held Clinton Responsible for the escape}

nigerian abracadabra at work again. the more you look ,the less you see.

I like James Bond Films the 007series
what about U ?

Terror muda no no may be

Charles Taylor de Terror
life in Nigeria
don't mind the west

They can't just take the fact that we have better Actors
well soon IBB will dispay his colour too

you guys seems to quickly forget it was USA that seek OBJ hand to give Taylor asylum. OBJ did not go to Liberia and say my brother come sit down for we backyard, now that alarm don blow, people are so quick to say OBJ free the man, How demoralizing, people please substantiate your info before you talk nonsense, perfect example, Charles Taylor in calabar, offer a security agent $100,000 dollar to stage his escape, what do you guys think will happen? 1 he will take the money and help the man escape? 2 he will turn Taylor in? I am curious to know what people think on this

Odeku,

If something wrong happens in your house I will blame you. Honestly - I don't see why the media had this thing in the news in the first place. Nigeria should have detained taylor by putting him in a secluded and well guided facility even before publicly admitting that Liberia should take him. I think it is very embrassing for Nigeria at this time especially when OBJ is meeting Bush in Yankee soon. If you can't control your security forces, who then can you control?

Charles Taylor in calabar, offer a security agent $100,000 dollar to stage his escape, what do you guys think will happen? 1 he will take the money and help the man escape? 2 he will turn Taylor in? I am curious to know what people think on this

Are you saying if I offer a top security officer at Aso rock $500,000 he would allow me in to harm the president?, give me a break - not all Nigerians are corrupt as you think. I am not blaming the president for this, I am saying that he should have been more scrupulous in handling this matter, evidently he hasnot, the result - the image of Nigeria going down again.

o boy go sleep this international politics OK
Na so them go just tell u say he escaped and u go begin find the mistry abi?
well u just don't call someone a lair in international politics
you just say he is begin economical with the facts.

soon you'll hear that he used voodoo to find his way out, as if to say all the witches wey dey our country dey sleep
well in international politic you just say he has escaped or he was abducted so that the blame will rest only and only on him
bye

my brother Nigeria have no image in the first place so which one image is now going down?
asylum does not mean imprisonment so he is fee to move about with the calabar state ok.
u don't aresst somebody b4 the warrant is served, rather when the warrant is served and up till now Liberia
is yet to request his extradition as agreed b4 charls Angel Bond(Taylor) was abducted from Nigeria by OB if u put J na u sabi

my brother Nigeria have no image in the first place so which one image is now going down?

Everytime something bad happens in Nigeria, Nigeria and Nigerians loose credibility i.e religious riots, ethnic strife, rebel uprising - these are symptoms of a failing state. These were the same things that happen in Liberia before the war, by this I don't mean a war is coming to happen in Nigeria. Take for instance, here in Ghana most Ghanaians think Nigerians are con men, armed robbers and people that use juju, so they deal with you at an arms length because of the things they read on the net, personal experiences they have had or our movies they watch. Now, this doesn't make all Nigerians bad because there are honest Nigerians.

Nigeria has image to me, we sent troops to Liberia during their war and saved thousands of lives, we helped South Africa during their crisis, we liaised with opposing parties during the cape verde problem. Wole Soyinka (A nigerian won the noble peace price), the first black woman to win miss world was from Nigeria and a host of other achievements.

Nigeria came in as a mediator during the Liberian crisis - a deal was agreed upon so that Taylor can step down. This wasn't political asylum, that is why when he was interferring with Liberian politics, he was warned by the Nigerian government. Under political asylum, you can travel to other countries, this doesn't apply to Taylor.

All this would have been prevented if Taylor wasn't informed. What so difficult if he was taken to a military facility and placed under confinement? The governement has the right to do that.

BTW, bill clinton did not allow a man who was under trial for war crimes to escape.

There is a difference between having a thief escape from jail, and having . . say a governor who was arrested for some crime, escape.

interesting I am loving this. so who is to Blame, the security guards/ the president, or Taylor?

Who else is to blame - the security aparatus under the head appointed by the president.

Let us say for arguement sake that he was kidnapped by some foreign secret service (Uncle TOM), if this had happen and security guards put up a fight, I would understand. But if one man just disappear like that, haba now? Wetin dey happen for Naja?

Folks lets face it,there is no way Charles Taylor could have escaped without government knowledge unless we are declaring that there is no more Military Intelligence and Security Service in Nigeria,then I will ask what the SSS,DMI,NIA and Police are doing ?
When you agree to hand over a criminal common sense,not even military sense,demands that you put the person in confinement so he does not escape.If a "military" government in cvillian uniform does not know this then, either something funny is going on or we simply have  absolutely ignorant and clueless people ruling our country. I think it is more of the former than later.

Just fold your hands and watch.The movies has only just begun.It is going to be interesting,thrilling and action packed.Don't miss an episode.

Military intelligence, we talking of Nigeria here, abeg my brother money speak in Africa, its very well possible he escape without government knowledge, who is to say the man was in Nigeria before the diplomatic talk? IF MR ALAM GOV can escape from England that was supposed to have the best police and secrete service in the world, then how easy is it to escape from Nigeria house where there are no surveillance camera at government houses or building.

We're 'three' mush in this country.  Alam and Taylor must have been watching too many James Bond films lately.

pls this not new on earth

in Fact when Lord Jesus disappeared from the tomb he was said that he was abducted/stoled by his boys

when America as fore Osman 007bond bin laden from Afghani Government they said he has escaped

when Hitler of germany finished world war II he was said to disappeared in Court,

this is just international politic,

to be in power they know you must have to fight for it. and if you fail
your friend will hid u and tell the world that u have escaped or abducted simple. so lets stop all these augments

even the Liberian Govt. knows that this script must play out thats why the ask Nigerian government to take Taylor to
sierra lone theirself so that it doesn't happen in their hands

you are not wiser than Nigerian Government. that just the only way to handle this,
because the agreement was that he should leave Liberia to create peace and he accepted now you want to try him for agreeing to peace accord. if he knows that this will come up he will not have leaved his office then and more will have to died and he may have worn the war, and still be in control of Liberian state

One thing is clear,Charles Taylor will be found and arrested.He has no place to hide.The world has become too small and there are too many satellites,radios and informants around. It is only a matter of very short time.
This should be a lesson to those who insist of plunging their countries into crisis.One day they will be called to answer for their crimes.

Typewriter:

please this not new on earth

in Fact when Lord Jesus disappeared from the tomb he was said that he was abducted/stoled by his boys

when America as fore Osman 007bond bin laden from Afghani Government they said he has escaped

when Hitler of germany finished world war II he was said to disappeared in Court,

Ok. . Jesus - yes

The Afghani government never had Osama Bin Laden in custody.

Hitler commited suicide rather than be captured.

story story story. nigeria and stories. when can something striaght come out of this administration?

It's bad that Taylor escaped, but Nigeria isn't to blame. We never said we'd arrest or prosecute him, we said we'd grant him asylum. Mrs. Sirleaf was dodging her responsibility by asking us to arrest him. why didn't she want to come and pick him up from here and take him to sierraleone? because she's afraid the war would start all over.

I remember shortly after Taylor arrived here, an NTA reporter went to a Liberian village with relief materials from Nigeria. She recounted how Liberians had mistreated Nigerians in that village and the villagers were very sad, said they were sorry. It's so funny that only 3 years after, many Liberians are insulting Nigeria over Taylor's disappearance again. They were helpless, we helped. Why didn't America help them? It was Nigeria who led the AU & ECOWAS to bring peace to the country. Obasanjo made his stance clear from the onset.

The US has an agenda here. Bush praised Obasanjo after the peace deal, only to demand for Taylor months after. Why is America so much after one man in Africa. If they so much love Liberia, why are they hinging their aid on Taylor's prosecution? They could have spent a little fraction of the money they spent destroying & rebuilding Iraq on Liberia. It would have done a lot of good. They now want to make us look like dirt.

Obasanjo has his faults, but I admire him for maintaining his stand against American (and international) pressure. We know America doesn't really have time for Africa, except when they want us to do their bidding. Mrs. Sirleaf said immediately after her inauguration that Taylor wasn't her priority; rebuilding Liberia was. She fell to American pressure and made Taylor a priority. I pray this doesn't cause trouble in the region. I respect Obasanjo for showing that blacks don't have to be at the beck and call of the West.

Why didn't anyone quarrel with the British authorities when Alamiseigha jumped bail. How about the US, when Taylor escaped from the Boston prison. There was a general feeling that the US masterminded Taylor's escape then so he could help them topple Doe's govt. Maybe he reneged on their deal and their now trying to punish him for that.

America is saying there'll be consequences. I hope they're not planning to make us an extension of Afghanistan and Iraq. They might just be taking a bite to large for them to chew. Or maybe they'll cut off aid. I'm not sure how much our economy would suffer for it, but I know it's the thieving elites that would miss their aid the most.

Many Africans are insulting Nigeria now, but when they have problems their leaders rush here. If they know we're corrupt, why do they accept our help? This is why Africa is backward - we don't know when to be subservient to the rest of the world and when not to. Anyway, history would record that Nigeria only set out to help Liberia, as we've been helping other African countries despite our own troubles. The world said this before now.

********A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR GL***********

excellent post

Isn't it odd that other Africans are now saying we are corrupt? What efforts did their countries make to solve the Liberian war. Yes, we are corrupt, but they run to Nigeria when they have problems. We are corrupt, but Nigeria has always been in the forefront of maintaining peace in Africa. I'm not aware that we've needed other African countries to come and help us keep peace in recent times.

The West (USA) is manipulating Africa. BTW, those who say Nigeria has no reputation and is corrupt should take a closer look at what Liberia is doing. They are actually selling/exchanging Taylor for US aid. Forget all the talk about war crimes and all, the fact is that US is tying their aid for Liberia to the handing over of Charles Taylor. Mrs. Sirleaf said as much at the UN secretariat in the US, when she said she hoped the US can now take their eyes of one man (Taylor) and focus on 22 million ppl (Liberians). Doesn't this smell suspicious? If this isn't bribery and corruption, I'm not sure there's such a thing as corruption.