The lower chamber of Nigeria's national legislature intends to conduct a public hearing on the asylum granted to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, the Chairman of the House of Representatives foreign relations committee said on Thursday. Usman Bugaje said civil society groups as well as officials from the Nigerian ministries of foreign affairs and justice would be invited to discuss the ramifications for Nigeria's foreign policy of hosting an indicted war criminal, as well as its impact on the rule of law. There have been continuing calls on the Nigerian government by local and international human rights groups, foreign governments, the UN court in Sierra Leone and the International Police Organisation (Interpol) for Taylor to be handed over for trial. But the Nigerian government has so far refused to oblige, insisting the asylum granted the former war-lord-turned-president was to end 14 years of bloodletting in Liberia and stop it from spreading in West Africa. Bugaje said neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives was consulted by Obasanjo before he took the decision to accommodate Taylor. "We in the legislature felt it was wrong," he told reporters. "Even the UN refugee charter forbids giving asylum to refugees accused of war crimes."
| Not knowing what lies down the road for himself — has a Nigerian head of state ever actually retired or been replaced in an election? — Olusegun doesn't want to set a precedent by handing over Chuck. The legislators seem to be thinking along different lines, not wanting to see what Chuck wrought in his own country and others around it spawn itself in their own constituencies. |
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