Later, there was a long stalemate and, eventually, the whole matter turned a little nasty and became the subject of a loud and acrimonious spat between the Nigerian government and the administration of President George Bush. And of course, I was deeply involved in that public spat as presidential spokesperson.    

Things eventually came to a head when Obasanjo went on a state visit to the United States (US), and a final demand was made for Taylor.

Obasanjo’s argument was that no one or country would ever believe, trust or take Nigeria seriously again, if we breached our word to Taylor, and that it was not a Nigerian position, but, rather, an AU position. He fought the matter out long and hard.

When the pressure got too much and President Johnson-Sirleaf made a final and public demand for Taylor to be returned to Liberia by Nigeria, Obasanjo ordered that he should be dropped at some border post and allowed to go wherever he wanted, rather than for us to formally hand him over to anyone.

He was on a state visit in the US at the time, and when it was announced to the world that Taylor had suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth and was no longer with the Nigerians, all hell broke loose and everyone panicked. It was at that point that Bush refused to see Obasanjo, while he remained in Washington, unless and until Taylor was traced, found and handed over to Liberia.
Now, I believe that this is where Obasanjo may have made a mistake.

In my view, he should have stood his ground, left America immediately and told them all, including Bush, to go to hell, especially since at that point and by that time, we were engaged in a verbal war on the international airwaves with the White House and the American government over this issue.

Our hand was quite strong then because virtually the whole of Africa was fully behind us with, of course, the exception of President Johnson-Sirleaf.

All of a sudden, and very mysteriously, Taylor resurfaced, was arrested and  handed over to Liberia, from where he was flown to the International Court of Criminal Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands, to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The greatest irony of it is that the US itself, who fought for and orchestrated all of this, is not a signatory to that court and, therefore, no former or serving American president, leader, citizen or even soldier can ever be brought before it to face any charges of crimes against humanity. That tells you just how unfair and ridiculous the whole world system is. 

My position is that if you want to try the likes of  Taylor for committing atrocities, that is fine, go ahead. However, it is only right and proper for you to then do the same to all the living American and Western leaders who have also done the same thing in various parts of the world. This is especially so, given the fact that they, more than any other set of leaders in the history of mankind, have been responsible for the most barbarous crimes against humanity that have ever been committed.

The law is surely no respecter of persons. After all, it was not an African leader that dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, with its attendant  consequences, after the Second World War. It was not an African leader that committed terrible atrocities in Iraq by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of defenceless Iraqi women and children when bombing Baghdad, all in the name of regime change and the prosecution of an illegal war. 

I could go on and on. I have said this earlier and I repeat it here today, unless and until I see Tony Blair and George W. Bush being prosecuted by that same court at the Hague for their own acts of genocide and crimes against humanity, I cannot in anyway be impressed with what they are doing to Taylor or anyone else there.

I watched Taylor closely in the dock and I wondered if he would ever get the chance to tell his story to the world. I thought, perhaps, he shouldn’t even bother with presenting a defence for himself against the charges that have been made against him in court.

I thought, perhaps, he should just spend his last few years in solitary confinement writing a book for posterity and tell the world his own version of events.                                        

(Concluded)
Fani-Kayode was an adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo

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Hah ha ha ha
written by Ayodele Johnson, September 04, 2010

So Fani-Kayode is now free to enjoy his loots under Obasanjo and has so much time on his hands to write the above trash of an article. I feel depressed to have been born in a country with idiots like Obasanjo, Fani-Kayode, Atiku, Soludo, etc, all mentally retarded, as role models. God have been very unfair to Nigeria

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