Goodluck Jonathan, ancien président du Nigéria

The perfect example of Nigeria’s position in Africa is that of a first born in the family, in most African traditions, no matter how useless a first born of a family is, you don’t ignore them in the family’s decision making.

The Nigerian state is fallen apart and Nigerians will be the first people to tell you that as a matter of fact, our problems have become so complicated to the point that we have no idea what the future holds, but one thing is clear our position in Africa still stands.

A corrupt, directionless country but still a force to be reckoned with in Africa. Which is why President Obama’s shunning Nigeria for the second time on his African trip is not just a big blow to Nigeria but a spat in the face to whole of black Africa’s family values.

When an outsider comes into a home, acknowledges the younger ones and totally ignore elders, his actions, is care is not taken might  end up being catastrophic.

Nigeria’s decision to host the Sudanese President (a man wanted by the ICC) on its soil, who came to honor an invitation to attend the special summit of the African Union (AU) on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, problems synonymous with the whole of Africa (including Al-Bashir’s Sudan) is still unclear but not totally out of line.

The United States government and European Union condemned the Federal Government’s refusal to hand over the Sudanese President, Omar Al Bashir, to the International Criminal Court, ICC, for prosecution over alleged crimes against humanity.

Nigerian presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati stated that, “It’s not Nigeria that invited him. He’s not here on a bilateral visit. He’s here to participate in an AU summit, and Nigeria is not in a position to determine who attends an AU event and who does not attend ».

Each country in Africa has its own peculiar problems that makes it difficult for an average westerner to comprehend therefore should not dictate the solution either directly or indirectly most especially to the one you’ve showed no regard.

As Nigeria faces the possibility of being sanctioned by the United Nations for the visit of the Sudanese President, the country is still basking in euphoria over the president’s official visit to china last week where together with the Chinese president, he presided over the signing of accords between their governments to facilitate US$1.1 billion in low-interest loans for much-needed infrastructure in Nigeria. Zhang Chun, an expert on Africa at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Studies, said Nigeria is important to China because it has the largest economy in west Africa…

Nigeria is too busy facing its own problems, if America and it allies want to arrest Al Bashir a war criminal which Nigeria believes he is, they can go ahead and do that themselves not by using his fellow Africans.

Voltic Togo