After what seemed like an initial silence on the details of the escape of the embattled Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha from London, President Olusegun Obasanjo's first reaction came in form of a letter to the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Tony Blair in which he pointedly accused the British of conspiracy. Dated November 23, 2005, the letter expressed disappointment that the British noted for their "thoroughness, efficiency and effectiveness" could allow a man standing trial in their courts, being held under conditional bail to escape.

Obasanjo added that in view of the on-going global war against terrorism, it is unbelievable that the Governor could escape from London the way he did without any detection. Even the British Government did not know that Alami had escaped until the High Commission in Nigeria was so informed by the Nigerian government. He wrote: "Given the global war on terror and the reputation of the British security agencies for thoroughness, efficiency and effectiveness, not only does Nigeria need assurances on this matter, we also expect decisive action on this matter from the appropriate authority from the British end." The author of these words was obviously trying very hard to be polite, but the message was unmistakable: Nigeria in that letter was accusing Britain of irresponsibility, possible complicity and negligence.

A few days later, President Obasanjo showed up at the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Malta and used that platform to urge all Commonwealth countries to join hands together in fighting corruption. Britain didn't need to be told that the message was meant specifically for it. It is important to review this development because it is a critical international dimension to the Alami saga, to the extent that the incident of the escape and arrest of the embattled Governor has drawn fresh attention to the nature and status of Anglo-Nigerian relations both in official quarters and in the public domain. It is remarkable that more than a week after President Obasanjo's letter to Blair, we have not been told if the Prime Minister has replied, and if he has what he said.

Even the British High Commission here in Nigeria has been non-committal: it has so far made two statements: the early announcement that Britain had no hand in the Governor's escape and a statement in Abuja in which it was declared that "Africa's future rests rightly in Africa's hands...Africa has as much potential, creativity, passion and hope as any other continent and when that is set free, everything is possible". In Britain, the subject of the dramatic escape of the Governor of a state in a black country who was accused of money laundering, has not grabbed the headlines, it is treated by the British media as a non-issue. But if Britain sets much store by its relationship with Nigeria, it ought to offer a more detailed explanation, more so as it is now being revealed that the Governor was assisted by forces on the ground in London and elsewhere.

Before putting pen to paper, and addressing Tony Blair directly, President Obasanjo may have had good information about the basis of his complaints. But he was in actual fact communicating a well-articulated position among Nigerians about the attitude of the British towards Nigeria and specifically its conduct in the Alami saga. Since the crisis began, a group of Nigerians have continued to insist that Britain had no business detaining a Governor of a state in Nigeria. This is a controversial position which many of us oppose on the grounds that Britain has every right to enforce its own laws and that if any Nigerian is caught in London, prince or servant, ruler or citizen, such a person must be answerable to the laws of England. To seek to protect such a person under a so-called immunity would amount to a cover up. This is also the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and to show its support for the British judicial system, Nigeria's Attorney General and Minister of Justice visited London to give evidence against Governor Alamieyeseigha, with the additional declaration that if the man was not properly monitored, he could run away from justice.

And yet despite this warning, the British looked the other way as Alami perfected his escape plans. There are many Nigerians who are as convinced, as President Obasanjo appears to be, that the British must have aided Alami's escape, and that given the nature of Anglo-Nigerian relations, the British must have done so for opportunistic reasons. The average student of Anglo-Nigerian relations is convinced that the British have always acted against the larger interests of Nigeria. The relationship between both countries began as that of a "master-servant", "colony and colonizer", "developing country and the imperialist". Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, but since then, the pervasive assumption among Nigerians is that Britain still considers Nigeria its "eternal colony" which it can exploit and manipulate.

In 1961, Nigerian students opposed the Anglo-Nigerian Defence pact and ensured that it was aborted for precisely this reason. Britain is also accused of having pillaged Nigeria since the 18th century when the Royal Niger Company began business along the Nigerian coast, in 1914 the British imposed their will on the future of Nigeria, by joining the Northern and Southern protectorates, without any consultations with the people. The argument is still being strongly pushed that many of the problems that Nigeria faces today are on account of this; the British structured Nigeria to fail; by the time they were leaving in 1960, they had sown enough seeds of division that would keep the country permanently in turmoil. Recent disclosures by former British colonial officers have further corroborated this claim.

The irony is that the ties between both countries have remained strong nonetheless. Britain is the second home for a majority of Nigerian families. A fraction of every penny that is made or stolen in Nigeria by Nigerians eventually finds its way to Britain either through tourism expenditure or the acquisition of property or education in Britain. Britain is also benefiting a lot from the Nigerian oil and gas industry. When Nigerian money is taken to England, the British do not complain. They open the doors of their banks to Nigerian big men; they sell exotic houses to the same persons. When there is trouble in Nigeria either in form of a coup, a political crisis or a war, the first choice for exile is usually Britain.

When General Yakubu Gowon needed to run away from the Murtala Muhammed government that had removed him from power, he chose Britain. Umaru Dikko also hid himself away in Britain, and when a group, supported by the Buhari-Idiagbon government wanted to smuggle him back to Nigeria, the British stopped the "kidnappers" at the airport. Between 1993 and 1999, many Nigerian pro-democracy campaigners found a safe haven in Britain as well. In a sense therefore, the British government would seem to have compromised itself over the years in its relationship with Nigeria. It cannot therefore be expected to act straight in dealing with the country and its people.

This conspiracy theory, strongly indicated in President Obasanjo's letter has been reduced by concerned Nigerians to one basic argument, namely that the British must have aided Alami's escape either by omission or commission, because whereas it is possible and easy to bear the legal burden of trying and jailing him, the political burden may be costly on the long run. Suppose the British authorities had been convinced that Alamieyeseigha is truly the Governor General of the Ijaw nation, a popular man of influence in the Niger Delta, and that if he were to be jailed in Britain, the Ijaw and their neighbours could turn against British interests in Nigeria' s oil-rich Niger Delta.

With all the ethnic militias and restive youths operating in that region, and enjoying the support of the Governors, the British could be tempted to place their country's economic interest above the charge of money laundering in a matter from which Britain stood to benefit. Secondly, the British may also have suspected that President Obasanjo with his over-aching interest in the Alami case and the enthusiasm with which the Nigerian EFCC was providing negative information about the accused merely wanted to use Britain to do a dirty job for Nigeria. By allowing Alami to escape and by refusing to be drawn into any diplomatic wrangling about the details of his escape, Britain may have cleverly pushed Obasanjo's mess back into his backyard. Let him deal with corruption in his own country. But if this is the case, then where does that leave the British law on money laundering on its soil?

The British government may not feel compelled to offer the Nigerian government any "assurances, or "decisive action" but it owes the Nigerian people an explanation. It must in particular find ways of disabusing the minds of the large number Nigerians who are genuinely concerned that Britain does not reciprocate the kind gestures of Nigerians enough. Nigerians know that they are linked to Britain forever by the simple fact of history and cultural experience. But they have always asked: how much value does Britain place on that relationship? It is true that Africans must take charge of their own destiny and make informed choices about their future.

After all, in all circumstances, it is futile to lay the blame for a country's failure to address problems of values and morality in its society on the doorsteps of another country. If Nigerian governors and other leaders plunder the treasury, and violate the country's laws, it is the duty of Nigerians to rise and insist on the integrity of public institutions. If they need outside help, they can ask for it, but there is a limit to which they can depend on the charity of outsiders. It is even presumptuous to dictate to another country how it should manage its security and justice administration system.

But in the end, a critical area of concern for the British should be the simple truth that all things considered, the strongest factors in foreign relations can be traced not to diplomatic exchanges between governments, but the hearts of ordinary people and their feelings.

Robot  # 1 | 02.12.2005 00:51

After what seemed like an initial silence on the details of the escape of the embattled Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha from London, President Olusegun Obasanjo's first reaction came in form of a letter to the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Tony Blair in which he poin...Read the full article.

Unregistered  # 2 | 02.12.2005 04:10

The Alami saga is not really big news here in England it is not a political issue Mr Blair has more important things to ponder on , a naija governor jumping bail is the least of he's worries , also it has been ignored by the British press it is not big news , people jump bail everyday here , OBJ can write as many letters to Blair as he likes but the facts will not change. Alami is a crook , because he was a governor and deemed respectable he was given bail , when you are given bail you DO NOT have policemen or security guards watching you 24/7 , fake papers and a good disguise , will take you through almost any airport or border post in the world , OBJ should shut up and deal with the issue and not blame the british government or anybody else for that matter for not punishing a man , who stole from his own people and the nation under OBJ 's watch. All this governor immunity business is really silly but hey.... it's naija. Nigeria will one day , take charge as the giant of Africa but we need to wake up a work together... God help us

Unregistered  # 3 | 02.12.2005 04:19

The truth has started to emerge. Alami's mystery has opened a lot of loopholes and inefficiency of Nigeria State. The problems we are facing go beyond the bla, bla, bla we are talking. However, we should still refer back to the concept of the article "Destroy this Temple" or a common maxim the "Nigerian Unholy Marriage". I agree with Mr. Abati that "the British structured Nigeria to fail; by the time they were leaving in 1960, they had sown enough seeds of division that would keep the country permanently in turmoil. Recent disclosures by former British colonial officers have further corroborated this claim." Therefore, the only option solving Nigerian problem is to divorce this unholy marriage in order to remarry or destroy the temple to rebuild it with the most modern technologies available that will make it a strong magnificient structure. Otherwise, if this temple is allowed to collapse, great will be the fall and there must be more casualties than expected and it can never be rebuilt again. Prince Eme

WAFI  # 4 | 02.12.2005 08:59

We keep running away from the main issue. Where did Alam’s get the money he allegedly laundered? Did he steal from the British or the Nigerian government? Now you see why we are such a confused people (our leaders)? Do we need the British government to solve our problems for us? “Very much like the prodigal son, we are running back to the British for some help; may be we should just ask them to colonize us once again.!!!!” Obasanjo can write as many letters or make as many phone calls to the British government, but I least expect them to loose any sleep over any of the issue. “It’s like using an unconcerned neighbor to settle the quarrel between a man and his wife” If there is a clause in the Nigerian constitution that prevents the government from prosecuting Alams, then that problem should be addressed and the man brought to justice. Nigeria has really made it self a laughing stock in the international community, and indeed we come with our own baggage. We should act like the sensible people we claim to be; identify the problems and fix them.

Abraxas  # 5 | 02.12.2005 09:07

Surely, two wrongs do not make a right. But then, how come Nigerians are suddenly disgusted by Chief (Squadron Leader) Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (JP)? What effort did Chief (General) Aremu Mathew Okikiolakan Olusani Abachanjo (GCFR) make over the past twelve (12) months or so, to vent out his disgust for money laundering, and bail jumping post-Dariye's saga in London? Whoever thought of giving very patronising and paternalistic lectures to the Plateau State Assembly on the effective uses of impeachment? Did Chief (Bloody Civilian) Dariye honourably pass through British immigration protocols, and re-appeared gentlemanly at Jos, very much unlike Chief (Squadron Leader) Alamieyeseigha's triumphant re-entry into Yenagoa? Whether water pass-i garri, or garri pass-i water, (na) the same t'in-ni-ni-o! The difference between six and half a dozen is zero! In essence Chief (Squadron Leader) Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (JP) is to Chief (General) Aremu Mathew Okikiolakan Olusani Abachanjo (GCFR), what Chief (General) Aremu Abachanjo is to Mr. Anthony Blair: servant-master transactional dynamics! In the final analysis, the Alamieyeseigha distraction is beginning to be very boring: kind of like a political opium designed to sedate Nigerians from the agony of a blatantly autocratic despot; an animal in human skin, disguised as a President of a banana republic that he has, more or less, designed around his hollow ego. But then, even Olusani Abachanjo will come to pass. At any rate, Nigeria go survive, sha, despite its civil war-centred local super heroes, visionless leaders and short-changed followers! I am sure Tony Blair knows it very well.

Unregistered  # 6 | 02.12.2005 12:34

Dr Abati, It is very convenient for everybody to accuse the British of complicity but not one person has ask any questions about how Alams enterred the country.The immunity clause is the bedrock of corruption in Nigeria and the press should not relent until this evil clause is done away with. The immunity that is shielding Alams and Dariye is the same thing that Obasanjo is claiming to prevent Gani from going for his jugular.First it was Obasanjo library is different from the man and the second breath the school(Bells)belongs to Onaolapo Sholeye.Incontrovertible evidence shows that this is a monumental lie and as long as the head is rotten we are all in trouble. The polity is so funny now that we are sliding deeper and deeper into chaos,the first cut is always the deepest and once an event occurs in Nigeria it becomes a away of life.Who is talking about the Atiku mansion again,nobody.Is anybody asking questions about how a man arranged to set Anambra on fire and not a a soul was arrested, no? Has anybody taken Obasanjo up on why he was openly told the world that the Okigbo panel report was missing and anybody that found it should send it to him? No. General Salihu Ibrahim once described the Nigerian army as the army of anything goes,this has spread to every aspect of our lives. I rad somewhere that this administration has taken us many steps back to where we are coming from,it is worse.If you are taken back your track at least you know you are on familiar terrain and you can avoid the pitfalls if you have to start again.We are on a detour into the unknown an we can only end up in chaos. The allgation that Britain aided Alams i cannot comment on but as Dele Momodu wrote to Segun Adeniyi, politicks and diplomacy is knowing where your bread is buttered and not stick out your kneck to be used as a base for breaking coconut.Mark Thatcher financed an attempt to overthrow the government of an oil rich country in West frica and events showed that the west was in the know but decided to look the other way because if the attempt had succeeded it would have been another extension of western influence over oil in the continent. In record breaking negitiations and rookie international diplomacy he was arraigned in South Africa and today he is a free man.Let any Nigerian try an attempt on the smallest nation in the world and our leaders will personally remove the stake from his feet i he were to be hanged. Fine Alams escaped,fine he was aided but what has happened,nothing but an attempt at federal character by dusting up the Dariye file and we will see how events unfold.The plateau assembly stood by their man and the day the speaker challenged Obasanjo to declare his assets in knew he would rein in his sgoons which he did.Internal wrangling will definitely make Alams lose out but we should look at things in a broad perspective. The library fund event is the greatest scandal of the century.Government agencies like NPA donated 1million dollars while contractors are being owed.The lead donors,Dangote and Otedola are the leading bidders for national assets being sold.Dont get me wrong they run very solid enterprises but how do we divorce donating one million dollars each to a personal library fund from being favoured in events like this??? At the lunching of the christian centre in Abuja Otedola initially donated 75 million pounds but later increased it to 300 million naira in a cheque personally and openly collected by Obasanjo for onward transmission to the centre management.Did he have to personally collect the cheque?? A president of a nation. All said and done it has not all be bad reports but we have a long way to go and the press has a big role to play. God bless the federal republic Kunle

Unregistered  # 7 | 02.12.2005 12:47

the first reply has answered the question. DSP don't even make the top100 of issues in the uk. His bail conditions were tight. When u are on bail, u dont have police watching u 24/7. That is the whole purpose of hime reporting to the police station twice a day. Maybe EFCC or SSS should have had their agents watching his movements. That how most contry security services work.

Anike  # 8 | 02.12.2005 21:49

Obasanjo had some nerves writing that letter. What more do we need to know that these folks don't give a hoot about us except when there is a pay off for them? Like Wind once said, it's high time we started glorifying our own people in our country rather than making all these foreigners with little or no qualifications bosses over our own folks like our Nigerian-learneds are incompetent. I could not have agreed with the Brits more; our destiny is in our hands. There he was writing that the British are ...and as such should know when a fugitive is trying to escape but what he fails to see is that his government is equally, more so, responsible for ensuring that unwanted individuals don't cross the border into Nigeria. What if it was Bin Laden? Would he go to Af... and inquire why they allowed terrorist(s) to leave their country. Instead of him to handle his responsibilities, he is pushing it over to another. This should be a wake-up call for Obasanjo, given that he is indeed bothered, that earning miles (frequent flier miles) and putting money into all these foreign bodies either in form of property ownership or medical bills, is not what he needs to focus on but developing his homefront. Like Yorubas say, ara e ni iso ti n run. Na real wah!

Abraxas  # 9 | 03.12.2005 02:38

Beyond the diversionary utility of Chief (Squadron Leader) D.S.P Alamieyeseigha (JP) in providing Nigerians with an opportunity to freely indulge in voluntary and selective amnesia, while sinking deeper and deeper into mass paradigm paralysis, let us pause and ask a few pertinent questions: Definitely, the impunity that is so recklessly exercised by some public officers is predicated on a most fraudulent provision of IMMUNITY in the Abdulsalami Abubakar Constitution (1999). When will the IMMUNITY clause be expunged from the Nigerian Constitution? A more fundamental question to ask is: Why has General Abdulsalami Abubakar not yet explained to Nigerians why his constitution was so generously booby-trapped to the detriment of Nigerians? At the risk of sounding rather reckless, one might as well say that Nigerian Embassies and High Commissions worldwide are grossly dysfunctional, and are practically useless to any Nigerian (high or low). Where was the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom throughout Alamieyeseigha’s money laundering saga? A military attaché is an officer of any branch of the armed forces (Army, Air Force, or Navy) who is accredited by his government, to a foreign country in which he exercises his mission. The basic duties of a military attaché in a foreign embassy, among others, is to provide support to all military personnel from their home country, who may need assistance while serving in the jurisdiction of their embassy abroad. Military attaches are also, more or less, spies! Yes, they do quite a lot of ‘dirty’ jobs behind the scenes for the sake of their beloved country. Their jobs go beyond being favoured ‘sons’ of influence peddlers back home. Their jobs go beyond attending high-level diplomatic and social gatherings, and partying! And so, where was the Nigerian military attaché to the Nigerian High Commission in the UK when Governors Dariye and Alamieyeseigha were arrested in London? (Probably partying, owambe-ing, jollificating, and chopping better life with Terry Waya?) Given the simple fact that Alamieyeseigha’s money laundering/bail-jumping saga has graphically exposed the porosity of Nigeria’s borders, is there any guarantee that the security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not also severely breeched: i.e. with the simultaneous unrestrained inflow of arms, ammunition, and mercenaries into Nigeria? Imagine a scenario in which an old and hungry monkey is appointed the chief security officer and sole custodian of the keys to a warehouse full of bananas! Will you be shocked that the bananas found their way into the reluctant elderly monkey’s stomach, unavoidably? Well, another impunity that is also so freely indulged in by some Governors and Presidents in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is predicated on another equally very fraudulent assumption of unaccountability and complete opacity in the utilisation of their so-called ‘Security Votes’. When will ‘Security Votes’ be made more transparent, and their beneficiaries made to be more accountable to Nigerians? Ultimately ‘Security Votes’ are the major sources of money for Nigerian kleptomaniacs to grab and launder overseas. Clearly, it is impossible for a seasoned monkey to do without his regular diet of bananas, especially if the keys to the banana warehouse are right under his command and control. By the way, why is Chief (General) Olusani Abachanjo (GCFR) still the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources of Nigeria, for over six (6) years? He must be the longest serving minister in Baba Iyabo’s cabinet! For some curious reason that is yet to make sense, most Nigerian male public figures, over forty years of age, have their special aliases, nicknames and ‘guy names’: e.g. IBB; OBJ; Turaki; Prince of the Niger; Leader; Baba Iyabo; Ikemba; Asiwaju; Mr. Fix It; Golden Governor; Baba Muyiwa; The Strategist; Alams; Traditional Prime Minister; Onwa; Odera; Baba Gbenga; The Lion; Oko Stella; Action Governor; etc. Now, what if the British government figured that Alamieyeseigha, though a certified money launderer, is actually the influential ‘Governor General’ of a petroleum-endowed ‘Ijaw nation’ in the Niger Delta region of the Gulf of Guinea, where future players in the petroleum industry worldwide are angling for a piece of the action, given the enormous burden of conducting business in the Middle East, post-9/11, post-Saddam Hussein? For sure, money laundering is not an all comers’ game: one has to be literally and metaphorically stinking/filthy/dirty rich for money laundering to be worth the hassle. Of course, money laundering became a serious issue since cross-border crimes, and trans-national terrorism got zero tolerance from the governments of the USA, the EU, and other industrialised nations, post-9/11. The reason is obvious: international criminals and terrorists depend on money laundering to finance their operations. But then, Alamieyeseigha was not laundering BRITISH money. He laundered NIGERIAN money in BRITAIN (to the benefit of the British treasury!). He should have been nabbed in Nigeria, by Nigerians, long before he went for his reconstructive abdominal cosmetic plastic surgery (alias Tummy Tuck, or TT) in Germany; long before he landed the UK. Actually, all that the British needed was to know the size and extent of his bank accounts and other assets in the UK. The next logical step was to confiscate all of them thereafter. Imprisonment by the UK authorities, whether or not Alamieyeseigha was a Governor from the Federal (banana) Republic of Nigeria, is trivial, if not totally unnecessary. The burden and onus of imprisoning the ‘Governor General’ of the ‘Ijaw nation’ for looting the Bayelsa State treasury dry lies squarely on the Nigerian government: i.e. the Nigerian Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary.