African leaders sue for peace in Nigeria
From JAMES OJO, Abuja
Tuesday May 9, 2006

Three ex-African leaders accompanied by former Prime Minister of Canada, Hon. Joe Clark and the scion of the United States human rights family, Martin Luther King III on Monday warned Nigerian leaders against any action capable of igniting crisis on the African continent.

“We are here to ensure that things do not go wrong, we want Nigeria to play her roles as big brother Africa,” former Botswana President, Ketumile Masire told Speaker Aminu Bello Masari during a courtesy call.

The team that included the former Governor of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shahen; member of the Kenya Parliament, Hon Raila Odinga; President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Kenneth Wollack and its Nigerian representatives, Keith Jennings, therefore advised the National Assembly to rise up to the challenges of maintaining peace in the country.

Not only that, the team, which was in Nigeria to assess progress made so far in electoral reforms, ahead of 2007 general elections, noted that it was in the country to ensure that electoral systems work perfectly before the elections.

‘We felt we should be here not only to monitor elections. We are here to see that all the systems are working well,” head of the delegation and former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire, said.
He told Alhaji Masari that should anything happen in Nigeria that could lead to problems, it would be too much for the rest of Africa to curtail it.

“If anything happens to Nigeria, the whole of Africa would be in trouble. No country in Africa can hold refugees from Nigeria,” he told the Speaker.

He acknowledged the roles played by Nigeria in solving problems in other parts of the continent, adding that it was possible for Nigeria to intervene because the country was at peace.