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Nigeria’s membership
of OIC
By Sun News Publishing
Sunday,
April 27, 2008
The recent disclosure that Nigeria has been a full member
of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) since 1986
must have come as a rude shock to the people of this country.
This is especially so given the controversy that greeted the
idea when it was speculated during the regime of General Ibrahim
Babangida that the country had secretly registered as a member
of that organization. The tension that the matter generated
then was so much so that the nation’s leaders preferred
to keep mute on the veracity or otherwise of the claim.
It is therefore to be imagined the great consternation which
the announcement by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Alhaji Tijani Kaura, that Nigeria has been a full and committed
member of the organization since 1986 would have been to most
of our citizens. Apparently responding to calls that President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua should make public the nation’s
status in the organization, the minister said in an interview
that Nigeria joined as a full member and not in an observer
status.
He justified Nigeria’s membership of the organization
on the grounds that its commitment to peace, security and
regional integration made it imperative that the country should
join the global body. In the view of the minister, Nigeria’s
membership of the body will be very beneficial to it.
Coming on the heels of the attendance of the meeting of the
organization in Dakar, Senegal, by President Yar’Adua,
and calls by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for
the government to declare its stand on the matter, the current
revelations are, to say the least, very disappointing. It
is so not only on account of the very lousy manner such a
very sensitive matter has been handled but more so as it is
at the heart of some of the problems that have kept this country
on its knees these past years.
That such a serious and sensitive issue that touches on the
secularity of the country could be so casually handled without
the knowledge of its constituents and in utter defiance of
the constitutionally guaranteed secularity of the country,
is the height of official recklessness and irresponsibility.
It is sad that the regime of Babangida secretly dragged this
nation into the organization despite the welter of strong
public opinion to the contrary. It is equally disappointing
that attempts are now being made in a democratic dispensation
to justify such an illegal action. To the extent that the
action was unilateral and ran contrary to the spirit and letters
of the nation’s constitution, to that extent, it is
illegal and cannot stand.
Moreover, it is yet to be seen what benefits accrued to the
country on account of the nation’s membership of the
body these past years. If, after 22 years, the nation is just
coming to terms with the fact of its membership of that body,
the continued relevance of the organization to the country’s
needs is further put to serious question. We are yet to see
what purposes the smuggling of the nation into that organization
has served these years.
Perhaps, a good measure of the relevance or otherwise of the
body to the overall needs of the country has evidently been
illustrated by the fact that our citizens do not really know
that the country has any serious business with the body until
the revelation by Alhaji Kaura. Where then lies those touted
benefits for which the secularity of the country had to be
violated in the most unconscionable and irresponsible manner?
Even at that, the fact of the secularity of the country and
the sensitivity of our people to issues that border on their
faith should caution that great care should have been taken
when handling such matters. That the sensibilities of the
diverse peoples of this nation were utterly ignored in such
a fundamentally sensitive matter is a sad commentary on the
type of leadership this nation has had. It is part of the
violation of our constitution that has become the sad tale
of our leaders.
It is worrisome that in the more than eight years that this
nation has operated constitutional democracy, this illegality
has not crossed the prying eyes of the National Assembly.
Given the facts of the above, it is pertinent that the assembly
immediately takes the necessary steps to put in abeyance,
Nigeria’s membership of the OIC. This should be followed
up by the halting of further payments to the body until the
issue has been fully debated and the full mandate of the constituents
obtained.
For now, the nation’s membership of that body is unilateral
and illegal and must be halted.
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