Global diplomacy and unnecessary Nigeria's retraction
July 26 2015 By Abi Giwa
President Barack Obama is unquestionably the most engaged leader in the world today. Other leaders follow behind. Just as Obama is highly engaged at home, so he is abroad. Earlier in the week, he had series of engagement around the country and at the same time received the Nigerian President Muhammed Buhari in Washington.
Obama is already on another African tour, and Buhari had returned to Nigeria. On Friday morning, just as Obama was landing in KENYA, a retraction emerged from Nigeria against one of the statements made by the Nigerian president during his visit to the US.
The statement from Abuja said that President Buhari's statement about the effect of the Leahy law of engagement on the Nigerian troops in their fight against Boko Haram did not mean that he had said the US was supporting Boko Haram against Nigeria.
The retraction from Abuja has made it necessary to look at the positions taken by the Nigerian president on major issues during his parley with President Obama, to see which of the statements he made that was undiplomatic and capable of causing unfavorable response from American officials. Was it the statement on the same sex marriage or the statement on the Leahy law as it affects the Nigerian troops?
The first major policy pronouncement by Buhari was about the same sex marriage, which was more pronounced because Buhari made it clear that same sex marriage as sodomy is against the Nigerian culture. The Nigerian president's position on the Leahy's law of engagement became public in news reports, unlike his position on the same sex marriage, which was twitted out as soon as he made it and it went viral.
The retraction from Abuja over Leahy law of engagement and the use of the words - culture and sodomy - in the rejection of the same sex issue, showed that Buhari got an invitation from President Obama, jumped at it without any preparation as to what to say in diplomatic terms on issues of major importance. Observers think that the Buhari would not have annoyed American officials sensibility by saying that the Nigerian people don't support the same sex marriage if he had not used the words - culture and sodomy. A policy statement that the Nigerian people don't approve same sex marriage would have been sufficient.
Of course, the American officials did not need to tell the Nigerian officials that the use of the two words annoyed their sensibility. But anyone who has been following the attack on America by terrorists, terrorists' open annoyance with the western culture and their description of same sex marriage as sodomy, would understand what the use of the words - culture and sodomy - would remind the Americans.
The American officials would not have failed to note the inconsistency in the Nigerian delegation's position on the issue of the Leahy law of engagement. The argument about the law and American accusation against the Nigerian Army began during Goodluck Jonathan's administration. It was the reason that caused America's refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. At that time, Buhari was campaigning to be president, the opposition that he belonged at that time supported the American position against the Jonathan's government.
The American officials would not only have viewed Nigerian president's new position as flip-flopping, but utterly absurd. They would have wondered how Buhari who supported the accusation against the Nigerian Army during Jonathan's government turned around to say that the Leahy law of engagement has helped Boko Haram against the Nigerian Army. It is as good as saying that the Americans are supporting Boko Haram by applying the law against the Nigerian Army. What they may have expected from Buhari would have been that the new government would ensure the army does not encroach against the Leahy law under the new administration, and that the new administration was not party to whatever the army had done while it was in opposition. And Buhari did.
The position that America may have unwittingly been helping Boko Haram with its application of the Leahy law was a reflection of thoughts many Nigerians still hold and during Jonathan's administration. Despite seeming apparent dislike a large number of Nigerians had against Jonathan for the free rein he gave his ministers, many Nigerians felt that the Leahy law should not only have been applicable to the Nigerian Army, but more to the sadism which Boko Haram had visited on innocent Nigerians in all works of life.
Without the retraction from Abuja, American officials would have been forced to recoil from their earlier position on the continual use of the Leahy law against the Nigerian Army, but that opportunity has been lost and American officials may think they have been right all along, and that the Buhari's administration may also not be ready to effect a change in the manner of its army's engagement. All these came off as first meeting between Buhari and Obama was an opportunity to read each other.
It was what Obama did during their first handshake in the Oval Office, looking straight inquisitively into Buhari's without a smile, while Buhari looking into Obama's with a broad smile. Obama may not have only read Buhari body language, the words used by Buhari on the same sex marriage was over the top, and it alone was capable of damage. Buhari did more explanation on his views on American position and the Leahy law, and it could not have been capable of causing any damage. Discussions on the Leahy law and its harsh application to the Nigerian Army, while Boko Haram free rein on the Nigerian people was not considered is the truthful position of affairs.
Obama is already on another African tour, and Buhari had returned to Nigeria. On Friday morning, just as Obama was landing in KENYA, a retraction emerged from Nigeria against one of the statements made by the Nigerian president during his visit to the US.
The statement from Abuja said that President Buhari's statement about the effect of the Leahy law of engagement on the Nigerian troops in their fight against Boko Haram did not mean that he had said the US was supporting Boko Haram against Nigeria.
The retraction from Abuja has made it necessary to look at the positions taken by the Nigerian president on major issues during his parley with President Obama, to see which of the statements he made that was undiplomatic and capable of causing unfavorable response from American officials. Was it the statement on the same sex marriage or the statement on the Leahy law as it affects the Nigerian troops?
The first major policy pronouncement by Buhari was about the same sex marriage, which was more pronounced because Buhari made it clear that same sex marriage as sodomy is against the Nigerian culture. The Nigerian president's position on the Leahy's law of engagement became public in news reports, unlike his position on the same sex marriage, which was twitted out as soon as he made it and it went viral.
The retraction from Abuja over Leahy law of engagement and the use of the words - culture and sodomy - in the rejection of the same sex issue, showed that Buhari got an invitation from President Obama, jumped at it without any preparation as to what to say in diplomatic terms on issues of major importance. Observers think that the Buhari would not have annoyed American officials sensibility by saying that the Nigerian people don't support the same sex marriage if he had not used the words - culture and sodomy. A policy statement that the Nigerian people don't approve same sex marriage would have been sufficient.
Of course, the American officials did not need to tell the Nigerian officials that the use of the two words annoyed their sensibility. But anyone who has been following the attack on America by terrorists, terrorists' open annoyance with the western culture and their description of same sex marriage as sodomy, would understand what the use of the words - culture and sodomy - would remind the Americans.
The American officials would not have failed to note the inconsistency in the Nigerian delegation's position on the issue of the Leahy law of engagement. The argument about the law and American accusation against the Nigerian Army began during Goodluck Jonathan's administration. It was the reason that caused America's refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. At that time, Buhari was campaigning to be president, the opposition that he belonged at that time supported the American position against the Jonathan's government.
The American officials would not only have viewed Nigerian president's new position as flip-flopping, but utterly absurd. They would have wondered how Buhari who supported the accusation against the Nigerian Army during Jonathan's government turned around to say that the Leahy law of engagement has helped Boko Haram against the Nigerian Army. It is as good as saying that the Americans are supporting Boko Haram by applying the law against the Nigerian Army. What they may have expected from Buhari would have been that the new government would ensure the army does not encroach against the Leahy law under the new administration, and that the new administration was not party to whatever the army had done while it was in opposition. And Buhari did.
The position that America may have unwittingly been helping Boko Haram with its application of the Leahy law was a reflection of thoughts many Nigerians still hold and during Jonathan's administration. Despite seeming apparent dislike a large number of Nigerians had against Jonathan for the free rein he gave his ministers, many Nigerians felt that the Leahy law should not only have been applicable to the Nigerian Army, but more to the sadism which Boko Haram had visited on innocent Nigerians in all works of life.
Without the retraction from Abuja, American officials would have been forced to recoil from their earlier position on the continual use of the Leahy law against the Nigerian Army, but that opportunity has been lost and American officials may think they have been right all along, and that the Buhari's administration may also not be ready to effect a change in the manner of its army's engagement. All these came off as first meeting between Buhari and Obama was an opportunity to read each other.
It was what Obama did during their first handshake in the Oval Office, looking straight inquisitively into Buhari's without a smile, while Buhari looking into Obama's with a broad smile. Obama may not have only read Buhari body language, the words used by Buhari on the same sex marriage was over the top, and it alone was capable of damage. Buhari did more explanation on his views on American position and the Leahy law, and it could not have been capable of causing any damage. Discussions on the Leahy law and its harsh application to the Nigerian Army, while Boko Haram free rein on the Nigerian people was not considered is the truthful position of affairs.
