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| Obasanjo Pays Final State Visit Tomorrow Gets Liberia’s Highest Honor |
| Published on May 25, 2007 | Email To Friend Print Version
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By D Kaihenneh Sengbeh
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who turns over power next Tuesday pays his last sate visit to Liberia tomorrow at the invitation of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Sirleaf will confer one of Liberia’s highest honors on the Nigerian political icon for his country’s many contributions to the restoration of sustainable peace in Liberia.
The Information Ministry yesterday said President Sirleaf will confer on her Nigerian counterpart a distinction called the Chain Collar in the Most Venerable Order of the Knighthood of the Pioneers. “This distinction is rarely conferred on others by the government, as it is one of the highest honors of the Republic of Liberia” said Assistant Information Minister for Information Services Gabriel Williams, at a press conference yesterday.
The University of Liberia will also confer an honorary Doctorate Degree in International Law on the Nigerian President, Mr. Williams told reporters. He said these honors will be bestowed on President Obasanjo as a sign of Liberia’s appreciation of the great and invaluable sacrifices the Nigerian Government and people have done to make this country stable from 14 years of bloody civil wars.
He recounted Nigeria’s contributions of peacekeeping troops (ECOMOG) to quell the Liberia civil war in the early 90s in which many Nigerian soldiers died; the arrival of the vanguard Nigerian peacekeeping force ( under ECOMIL) in 2003 and currently thousands of Nigerians in the UN peacekeeping troops in Liberia-UNMIL.
Minister Williams said Liberia has got nothing to give Nigeria but to honor their leader under whose regime these initiatives have been rendered before he leaves office Tuesday. He called on the general Liberian public to turn out to give the Nigerian President a stimulating welcome.
President Obasanjo has led Nigeria for two four-year successive terms, and he turns power over to Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on March 29 in a ceremony that President Sirleaf is expected to participate. Mr. Yar’Adua’s election has been marred with controversies.
Meanwhile Nigeria’s Ambassador accredited near Monrovia, H.E. Uneje E. Onobu, has expressed gratitude to the Liberian government and people for recognizing the role his country has played in bringing the current peace Liberia is enjoying. He described the visit— fifth in the last four years— as being “significant and timely.”
“It will give President Obasanjo another opportunity to make on-the spot assessment of Nigeria’s significant contributions to the building and sustaining of peace in Liberia,” the soft-spoken Ambassador told journalists during a tête-à-tête at the Nigerian House in Congo Town yesterday afternoon.
He said the visit will also enable the government and people of Liberia to felicitate with an African leader whose pledges to them have been fully redeemed. “At another level,” the Nigerian envoy furthered, “the visit will foster mutual trust and understanding as well as provide opportunity for both leaders to underscore their aspiration for the continued constructive and warm relationship between their two countries.”
Ambassador Onobu noted that the visit to Liberia will be President Obasanjo’s last external engagement before leaving office May 29, 2007, adding, “His acceptance to come to Liberia at this time reaffirms his deep esteem for this country and support for the impressive political, economic and social reforms taking place here.”
He said Obasanjo has contributed immeasurably to peace in Liberia, and his last state visit during which he will receive a high honor gladdens the hearts of the Nigerian people. Amb. Onobu said the exit of Obasanjo form the presidency does not mean the Liberia-Nigeria relations has ended. “Indications are already manifesting that this visit will usher in a climate of even stronger and more vibrant relations between Nigeria and Liberia,” he averred.
He said Nigerian peacekeepers, doctors and teachers in Liberia will remain in the country to complete their tasks. “The things that bind Liberia and Nigeria together are more than friendship and mere relationship,” Ambassador Onobu who was quizzed on wide range of Liberian-Nigerian relations told journalists.
Releasing to Journalists calendar of events covering the visit, the Ministry of Information said the Nigerian leader will touch down at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) 9 a.m. to be received by President Sirleaf and government officials including other dignitaries.
Both presidents will proceed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where Obasanjo will be entertained to a cultural performance, and later he will be presented the key to the City of Monrovia by the Monrovia City Council. He will hold a tête-à-tête with President Sirleaf in her office on the 6th Floor of the Foreign Ministry before his honoring ceremonies in the Foreign Ministry’s auditorium. The Nigerian Leader will then proceed to the University of Liberia to receive a Doctorate Degree in International Law, before attending a state luncheon at the Monrovia City Hall. After the luncheon, President Obasanjo will then conduct an inspection of Nigerian soldiers assigned with UNMIL before departing for the RIA to return home.
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