Sensative Diplomatic Missions; Politics of OIC, Diplomacy & ‘Islamization’ (1)
“In matters involving religion, the Minister closer to that faith should take charge; this in this case is Honourable Minister of State 2 Foreign Affairs (Dr Nuruddeen Muhammad)”…. President Goodluck Jonathan had scribbled at the edge of a memo I had earlier written to His Excellency. The memo was to seek his kind approval to lead the Nigerian delegation for a pre-hajj meeting with the Saudi Arabian Ministry for Hajj in Jeddah. But there was a caveat, I wrote. I was to represent the then Minister of State 1 Foreign Affairs (Prof Viola Onwuliri) who was officially in charge of Hajj Affairs, Christian Pilgrimage and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) activities in the Ministry. Dr Jonathan felt that wasn’t very tidy, and with that explicit Presidential order, he effectively transferred Hajj affairs and OIC matters over my impressionable 33 year old shoulders. That was in addition to my handful of activities in ECOWAS and the African Continent
No sooner had the Presidential directive went into effect than the effectively mined terrain of Nigerian OIC politics went loose. Like President Buhari today, I was in Mecca to attend the same Islamic Conference with the Vice President in August 2012 (exactly the same 26th of Ramadan). As is expected, the press were on my neck to report back home. I obliged them. I haven’t viewed Nigeria ever through similar lenses since that fateful interview.
I was young, naive, passionate and perhaps even patriotic (or so I thought). The theme of that year’s conference was strengthening interfaith dialogue. It was a fantastic opportunity, the Nigerian delegation had thought. Boko Haram had just torn the very fabric of our multireligeous existence by it’s evil campaigns of bombings and murders in worship places, particularly the churches. Among other things, I told the NTA reporter from Mecca that.. ‘Nigeria, as the largest Islamo-Christian Country in the world, with the largest and almost equal number of Christians and Muslims living side by side, is most excited about the proposed interfaith centre”.
I represented the Nigerian foreign office there as a top diplomat and I positively meant every word of it. Unfortunately, the Nigerian press and the CAN establishment felt three hundred and sixty deegrees otherwise. The charge was as simple and straight forward as it was dubious and mischievous; I had referred to Nigeria as the largest Islamic country with the largest Christian minority, and variants thereof!
The first shot at my head came from Pastor Ayo Oristefor, the then CAN President. At a press conference in Akure, he called for my outright sack from the Cabinet. I was dangerous, he added, and I could be among the unseen Boko Haram hands in the government. Then the Vanguard Newspaper took over. Minister Nuruddeen’s Islamic Republic of Nigeria; Ocherom Nnenna screamed from his daily column. Then a dedicated editorial by the same newspaper sanctioned by it’s then editor in chief Ikkedy Izogour called on the President to determine my emotional maturity (obviously because I was a young man) visa viz my suitability as one of Nigeria’s Foreign Ministers and the Federal Executive Council all together. Simon Kolawole also called me out from his then Thisday back column, among many more personal and culture attacks on and offline.
Just a year into the job, that was my baptism as a public officer. By the time I returned to Nigeria a couple of days later through New York and Guinea Bissau, I was both embattled, overwhelmed and jet lagged and was no more interested in the job. I was very bitter with the very convenient generalisations, wild assumptions and bigotted stereotypes. I was ready for the President. That opportunity came the following morning.
As the Foreign Minister doing ECOWAS, the President had given me a very rare access to his office and private space on board the Nigerian Airforce 001(his official plane). We had flown tens of thousands of miles together and had endlessly discussed everything from religion, to politics, through philosophy and history. He understood my mindset. Has a very big idea about my world view. And is clear about my ideological leaning, biases and even prejudices. After exchange of pleasantries that morning and the official task, I had expected him to query me, or atleast enquire about the matter. But to my utter shock, he did neither.
I was no longer naive. Like everyone else, I knew of the powerful lobby around the President, some of whom had spoken publicly against me. I therefore brought up the matter and even attempted to show him the official record of the controversial interview. Jonathan waved it, smiled and said, I know you Nuruddeen and I know you will never say anything like that. That is why I asked you to take charge, he added.
The ADC was already in the office by then, and The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria was scheduled for another event. He (ADC) gave me the look, my time was off. Traditionally, the top military, security, and protocol details of the President are all a little bit uneasy with these Foreign Ministry people who just walk up to Oga anyhow and can send the President on a foreign trip the next morning
Case dismissed!
To be continued…
