2nd December, 2010
United States-based whistleblower website, Wikileaks.org, has shown that commonwealth countries were worried that Nigeria could be thrown into a constitutional crisis if President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua dies in office.
Information on Nigeria was classified by U.S. Political Counselor, Mr. Richard Mills, in the weeks that preceeded Yar’Adua’s death on 5 May this year.
The leak, a discussion between a U.S. diplomat known as Poloff and Commonwealth Political Director, Mr. Amitav Banerji, revealed that diplomats still preferred former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, over Yar’Adua.
Their preference was based on Obasanjo’s involvement in African matters and contributions at Commonwealth Head of Government Meetings, CHOGM.
The cable read: “The Commonwealth is also keeping a watchful eye on Nigeria, Banerji noted, as it is “punching well below its weight†and President Yar’Adua’s sudden death has the potential to prompt a constitutional crisis.
“The Commonwealth would like to see Nigeria more active in the region and in the Commonwealth across the board.
“Banerji noted that Yar’Adua did not make a single intervention at the last CHOGM, contrasting sharply with former President Obasanjo.â€
On Sunday, 28 November, 2010, Wikileaks began publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain.
The documents have given people around the world an unprecedented insight into the US Government’s foreign activities.
Wkileaks, a website that publishes leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct, was founded that by Australian-born man, Mr. Julian Assange.
—Simeon ateba
