the guy is really escaped, Nigeria have a hand in it how would a plane fly like that na wintch

http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2006/mar/29/national-29-03-2006-001.htm

Taylor's case might be embarrassing to some Nigerians, but I wish all Nigerians for once can stand for Nigeria. Nigeria isn't about Obasanjo, it's about all of us. Let's show the rest of the world that we're proud of who we are. We shouldn't be made to feel less because of what happened. Alamiseigha escaped from Britain and nobody made noise about it. Besides, Nigeria (and Obasanjo) played a very crucial role in stopping the Liberian war. Let's not allow the rest of the world make rubbish of that. Let's not let them make us feel like criminals. Imagine how many ppl would have died btw August 2003 and now if the war was still on. No matter what anyone says, we did something very noble there.


Sometimes we tend to think of it as OBJ's problem, and if we don't like him, we join the rest of the world. This is wrong. Many Americans don't like Bush, but will stand for their country anytime and anywhere. Nigeria belongs to us all and needs us now to stand for her. We're doing this for ourselves, not OBJ. We shouldn't allow the foreign press to shape our thoughts, especially of ourselves. America doesn't have all the answers, they've got problems like other countries. We aren't the only country with problems, plus, we've done a better job than many countries handling our problems. How many countries can u see over 250 different indigenous tribes with different cultures and languages cohabiting like we do? How many countries do u see muslims and christians and traditional religions cohabiting like we do, with each group having some fundamental rights and being represented in the govt? We've got some strong points, we're not a pushover. We shouldn't accept this from these ppl. We are SOMETHING!


BTW, why are other African leaders quiet?

i'm loving this discusion. some peeps are realistic like uhonmora, odeku and GL.

here's my take:

In the 90's, the Nigerian-led ECOMOG intervened in Liberia and Sierra Leone at a cost of $12 billion to Nigeria without the help from the international community. No thanks were given to Nigeria then. Trouble erupted again in Liberia and the cheapest & most effective way to end it was to offer an international-brokered deal to Charles Taylor. Days earlier, Jeremy Greenstock, the UK ambassador to the UN said he was "confident" of a deal being struck. Where were all these so-called human rights campaigners? Why didn't they cry foul then? Afterall, Taylor was indicted by the Special Court of Sierra Leone WHILE he was the Liberian President. The then deputy and now Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court of Sierra Leone, Desmond de Silva, knew about this so why is he just speaking up now? My personal grouse about the deal was that Nigeria once again carried the burden.
Fast-forward to January 2006 and Madam Sirleaf is on record as saying Mr. Taylor  is a secondary issue (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4655186.stm). Two months later she changes her tune to chalk up cheap (and needless)political points by asking for "closure" on the Taylor issue and arm-twisting the Nigerian government by stating that the Nigerians should have expedited action without Liberia's explicit request.  Obasanjo stuck to his earlier statements to hand-over Taylor to a democratic Liberian government and granted its request. Job done! The problem is that Taylor was not arrested; HE LEFT Liberia to avoid further bloodshed and was granted asylum. How then can it be expected that Nigeria should forcibly hand him over back on Liberian soil? But yet again, Nigeria gets the blame.
God forbid that anarchy should reign again in Liberia but, should it happen, the Nigerian government should not get involved no matter what. Let the so-called justice-loving countries of the world intervene. Time and time again, Nigeria has tried to play "big brother" in Africa at huge financial and human capital costs. But instead of kisses, we get kicks.
Wake up and smell the morning coffee, people! THERE IS NOT MUCH JUSTICE IN THE WORLD! The whole world's a stage in the play of politics. The double-standards and hypocricy of the West continues. And self-serving African leaders continue to dance to the tune of the Western fiddler.
Time is a healer. Madam Sirleaf should have let sleeping dogs lie. it's high-time she rolled up her sleeves and got to the serious work of development in Liberia.
Yes, Taylor might not get his comeuppance now but there is still life after death.

nice analysis guyss. but i still can believe this. am in shock right now. taylor escaped. thats it, where in nigeriA would u want to start searching for this guy from. lets say case close at least he has already been defeated in sierra leone. i doubt whether he would want to be causing more trouble soon or in the near future. wow, "Taylor escaped". amazing

Much as I agree with GL and Vongauche's ''total picture'' analysis, I believe this Taylor's escape should teach Nigeria a lesson. Viewing the whole matter from a different perspective entirely, I believe Nigeria should, indeed, have focused more on[b] tackling local problems[/b] rather than interfering in other countries' internal affair.

We've had quite a number of very gory ratings recently; from being amongst the poorest countries in the world, to the most corrupt and then to the country with the highest number of happy people in the world! So, when we set out to send innocent people out into other country in the name of peace keeping efforts, we should at times remember that we ought to remove the log in our eyes first before trying to remove other people's own.

Many young Nigerians are unemployed. They cannot feed thrice a day. The harsh economic situation in the country calls for serious concern, but our all-knowing Presido would rather globetrot the whole world from Chile to Russia and China to Canada looking for what only he knows. We like playing the ''big country'' a lot. And that has led us to where we are today. If OBJ had allowed Charles Taylor to stay this long in Calabar, without escaping, why is it now that the heat is on the guy that security details to this man would be withdrawn, some 24hours to when he's supposed to be handed over? This is from intelligence reports. Besides, I heard Taylor is somehow an inlaw to OBJ, - I don't know how true that is, but if it is, then I would not doubt OBJ having fore knowledge of the man's escape.

At a time when the Niger Delta people are lacking basic amenities of life, and oil is taken daily to grease FG's purse, OBJ prefers looking outside to help other countries of the world. I think whatever insult we receive as a nation on this Taylor's escape serves us right.

Guys,

I am not questioning Nigeria acting as a big brother for it's african neighbours - Nigeria has helped alot of african and non african countries. Nigeria went in to coax Taylor and brought him to Nigeria - a good example of Africa solving it's own problem.

If Taylor was a regular guy that did nothing - nobody would complain, here is a man that killed his own people, helped Forah Sanko chop of people hands and limps in Sierra-Leone, stole and plunder millions of dollars from Liberia for his own selfish interest, sent thousands of Liberians, nigerians and others to their early graves.

He was under the protective custody of the Nigerian government, remember when he came to Ghana in Early 2003 for a conference, he was briefly detained in Ghana on the request by the UN court in Sierra-Leone but was later freed because his boys treaten to kill innocent Ghanaians in Liberia. Nigeria messed up by allowing the man escaped, let us face it, Nigeria is to take responsibility for that. We gave him protection and he fled under our protection - This just shows that our system doesn't work, it's a pity.

Good post. steamed up who the hell does big boss Usa think it is. I think OBJ wanted him to escape.

GL, I totally agree with everything you've said but dont you think that from the statements of Fani Kayode concerning this particular development, the FG has never wanted to release Taylor to face the UN court?

Look at this, Yankee even wants to cancel the meeting with OBJ on Taylor issue

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4855300.stm

If Obasanjo was not prepared to hand over Taylor why not come out and say based on the agreement for peace and to stop war in Liberia, that Taylor was granted immunity and so will not be tried. End of story. This would be more honorable though many would disagree including me, but more understandable compare to this messy and lawless maneuver. This is simply an embarassment. Our politicians will need to learn how to play politics at least when on international stage because the lawless, irresponsible non chalantant type they are playing within Nigeria won't work outside except to dent and make mockery of the the nation's image.

And we are demanding U.N parmanent seat?

Charles "Houdini" Taylor's escape takes the pressure off the Nigerian federal government as there need no more be a "handing over" of the suspect to the Liberian government, and as such the informal promise of safe haven to the war criminal will not be seen to have been broken by the Nigerian government, to the possible relief of other African warlords at large.

Taylor will try to lie low for a while someplace in the sub-region, but will ultimately be flushed out into the open by hunting dogs and culled before ever getting to trial. This affair is unfolding like a good movie plot with more skulduggery, betrayal and gratuitous violence sure to come.

GL, will you marry me?

This is exactly what I've been saying. I made this point when I responded to the BBC webpage on the topic but my opinion wasn't posted but those calling for Taylor's head and crucifying Nigeria were boldly written.

Nobody is saying Taylor is a good man but the point is Liberia has bigger fishes to fry than worry about a man well away from their shores. Like GL said Mrs Sirleaf's position was this inintially but her governmnent has finally succumbed to this unnecessary international pressure.

When Liberia was being torned apart by the War their so called big brother US didn't come to their rescue. They had bigger fishes to fry too ib Afghanistan and Iraq. The gimmick called UN didn't do shyt. Obasanjo negotiated the deal which persuaded Taylor to step down. It'll be immoral to now turn around and give him to Seirra Leone. Obasanjo has done the best he could by agreeing to hand him over to an elected Liberian government. It's the responsibilty of Liberia to hand him over to the court in Seirra Leone. if they so wish.

As I've benn saying Democracies across Africa are nascent. There's no point trying to run before you walk. You need a well established democracy with a good legal, police, and prison system plus a stable society to attempt to critical trial such a this. Not doing so will only jeopardise the emerging democracy in Liberia and may even return the country back to where it was. All you need to look at in the Saddam trial in Iraq which is even more convincing that this but yet the case is proving to be a joke.

Slobodan Milosevic's is another example. I, personally, believe the guy was clapped! Why? Because cases like these are difficult to try even in a stable environment as Europe. You only need to follw the case to see what was gonna happen. The international community knew it would be hard to get a derserved judgement and that would deem the case a publicity stunt by these UN gimmicks. So they clapped the guy simple as that. At least no futher questions would be asked if the judgement was right or not.

If democracies across Africa is allowed mature and society develops then trying criminals succesfully within a trusted legal framework would be the norm. Taylor and his counterparts will face the music eventually. "You can only run for so long before things catch up with you".

So please let's stop this idea of trying to prove that we have a legal establishment worthy of assuring our confidence. We don't. The only way to get there is to take one step at a time and work towards building a stable society that can give us that.

He has been caught

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4856120.stm

Taylor has been nabbed! http://chxta..com/2006/03/taylor-nabbed.html

So what do all you critics of President Obasanjo, the Nigerian authorities and in fact Nigerians in general have to say now?

It's sad that more Africans and Nigerians in particular do not have the clarity of vision and insight that GL displays in her excellent posts on this topic. We are often too quick to criticize and assume the worst without objectively assessing the situation and trying to ascertain the true motivations behind demands from the so called "developed" countries in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I am not for one minute condoning anything that Charles Taylor has done but I do believe that Liberia has more pressing issues to address at this point in time rather than the prosecution of a single individual.

Let's all watch and see how events unfold.

GL said it all, her analysis is well to the root of the whole saga. Nigerians and indeed people of this forum should spread this analysis that capture the genesis, the scheming and the politics of the Taylor and Liberia saga and Mrs Sirleaf connections. You know, for long I had wondered why George Weah was denied the Presidency, and hunch keeps telling me the west and Africa denied him. Now I know better, with the way the west play their dirty politics of installing stooge in so many government of the world so long as the person is ready to do their bidding. Thanks GL for opening our eyes to the truth, now we know better.http://chippla..com/2006/03/on-charles-taylor.html

Dem don catch am!! thankfully news just filtering in says Taylor has been caught and would definately be on the next flight to Freetown. i was sad when i heard about Taylor's escape something Fela would call "govt magic", just like the African Pride brouhaha, Taylor's escape had offical prints all over it!!

i disagree with GL, OBJ personalised the prob, many nigerians were against Taylor's stay in nigeria. we accepted it in good faith when we were told it was for peace to prevail in liberia. now the same international community which Obj says fashioned out the deal say they want Taylor, for goodness sake why should we habour a criminal and moreso one that has the bloods of thousands of nigerians on his hands. Alami's case has nothing to do with Taylor's. moreso two wrongs don't make a right. we owe it to the nigerians soldiers and civilains that died in Sierra-leone and Liberia wars to see that this man face trial

If the government is really serious, they should put a price tag on this guy, like 5 million naira or more, and i can assure you, guyz will come together and search for this MAN, let's follow the footsteps of Yankee, place a reward on this guy and you will be surprised, he might be unveiled by a "CORPER" in a remote village.

@Blue2, The reason for as you put it "harboring a criminal" was to end the conflict and save lives and in that respect President Obasanjo was 100% successfull. You should also remember that at the time nobody else (including the western world) had a viable alternative solution.

The point of comparing Alam's case to Taylor's is that nobody accused the British authorities of corruption when Alam escaped from the UK despite all the advanced security measures they have in place however a lot of Nigerians were quick to unequivocally accuse the Nigerian authorities of corruption when Taylor disappeared.  Do you really think that President Obasanjo would be so blatant if he really just wanted Charles Taylor to walk especially as he was scheduled to meet President Bush today?  If I were President Obasanjo, I would consider that a considerable insult to my intelligence!

I don't think that anybody is saying that Charles Taylor should not face a trail for his alleged crimes but due process must be followed.

@ GL,
I love u already. You've made my day with ur posting.
Glad to know that there're people out there who can read between the lines. If Africa doesn't look after herself, no one ESPECIALLY THE BLOOD SUCKING- STAB YOU IN THE BACK- BETRAY-THEIR OWN MOTHER TO GET AHEAD- west.

well he's been caught now. no other dictator will listen to nigeria now
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nigeria_taylor

there's an interesting debate  going on now on LTV concerning this.

Well, it's over now but some of the points argued perfectly highlighted those GL had earlier made.

from Fdeveloper:

So what do all you critics of President Obasanjo, the Nigerian authorities and in fact Nigerians in general have to say now?

It's sad that more Africans and Nigerians in particular do not have the clarity of vision and insight that GL displays in her excellent posts on this topic. We are often too quick to criticize and assume the worst without objectively assessing the situation and trying to ascertain the true motivations behind demands from the so called "developed" countries in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I am not for one minute condoning anything that Charles Taylor has done but I do believe that Liberia has more pressing issues to address at this point in time rather than the prosecution of a single individual.

this says it all. it's 93% of Nigerians are cynics or something. they never see any good in any thing and are oh so quick to point out negativity and relish in it

This Taylor saga, USA is behind the whole deal, imagine they want to cancel talks with OBJ just because Taylor escape, if OBJ is a wise man, he should cancel his trip to the state and say to hell with the Americans, and manage his policies at home. This is why lots of hatread is geared against American government policies, its bureaucratic,a nd they only intervene if its in favor of their wealth.

News just reaching me is that Charles Taylor has been captured while attempting to leave the country through the Cameroun border. He is now being held by security operatives in Cross River State. Sorry, conspiracy speculators!

Say whatever you like, do whatever you want to do. I don't believe in OBJ administration. It's full of evil and good. Too much rubber stamp works, evil doers on the prowl. Corruption in high places. Cheating, gangsterism, ghana-must-go bagism, ethnic bigotory etc etc etc.

And there's this third term thing looming larger than life to butress my points!!

Just watch out, this Taylor capture is a short-term relief news. He will escape again. Trust me. And when he does, Sirleaf will be worse for it.

I believe this forum has very intelligent members and so we should note the following facts before commenting:

1. Charles Taylor was imprisoned in the United States at the Plymouth County House of Correction from where he escaped in the 1980s AND NO ONE ACCUSED THE US OF ANYTHING. He was not caught in the US despite the tight securtiy and advanced technology.

2. The Agreement signed in Accra in 2003 was for Nigeria to hand Charles Taylor over to a democratically elected president in Liberia AND NOT ANY OTHER BODY.

3. The Special Court in Sierra Leone is UN sponsored but is not a UN body. Nigeria is not signatory to the Special Court in Sierra Leone.

4. The US is uptil now not signatory to the ICC and ICJ conventions of the UN.

5. Pres Sirleaf requested for Charles Taylor a day after returning from the US.

6. Nigeria terminated Taylor's asylum the next day, sending copies of the documents to Liberia's Ambassador in Abuja.

7. Pres Sirleaf, being a novice in Interantional politics, realizes the dangers of Taylor's return to Liberia and asks Nigeria to hand Taylor over to the Special Court.

8. Taylor capitalises on this lacuna to attempt to escape.

You can now make your judgements.

Can you believe he left his wife and kids behind trying to escape too, people are wicked

Good post ramono, well said.

7. Pres Sirleaf, being a novice in Interantional politics, realizes the dangers of Taylor's return to Liberia and asks Nigeria to hand Taylor over to the Special Court.

She is not a novice, she's been in the game a long time even during the 80s when Doe was in power. Like you rightly said, the US told her to request for Taylor but he should be sent to Sierra-Leone instead of Liberia.