Nigeria's main opposition party, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), has sharply protested the decision by President Olusegun Obassanjo to offer asylum to Liberia's embattled President Charles Taylor.
| Doubt if anything'll come of it, but if it does it's a wrench in the works. But I'd be reacting the same way... |
The ANPP, in a statement issued on Tuesday July 8, 2003 and signed by Mr. Abdulrahoof Bello, Media and Publicity Secretary, said the granting of asylum to Mr. Taylor amounts to an affront to the psyche of Nigerians, especially the widows and children of peacekeepers and the families of Nigerians killed by Mr. Taylor in the Liberian crisis.
| Gonna hold a grudge, are you? I would, too... |
Specifically, the opposition's statement made reference to the brutal murder by Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of two Nigerian journalists, Tayo Awotusin of ‘Daily Champion' and Krees Imodibe of ‘The Guardian' newspapers. "The bodies of Awotusin and Imodibe shall turn in their graves to learn that the country they served and died for has betrayed them by granting an asylum to the man who was responsible for their untimely death while performing their lawful duties"', the opposition lamented.
| This is probably the standard Viewing With Alarm™ of opposition parties... |
The ANPP also queried: "Has the President forgotten so soon that President Taylor's soldiers attacked the Nigerian Embassy in Monrovia and killed many innocent Nigerians taking refuge in the Embassy? ...We are of the opinion that President Obassanjo is carrying too far, the ego of Nigeria, being a big brother in the West-African sub-region by appearing to have loved President Charles Taylor more than the Nigerian journalists who were murdered by Charles Taylor against international conventions", they said. |