Arms Shipment Won’t Affect Nigeria, Iran Relations -Ajumogobia

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Odein Ajumogobia says the shipment of arms from Iran to Nigeria does not in any way affect the relationship between the two countries as it was not designed to undermine Nigeria.

Ajumogobia stated this during an interview with The Tide at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

He noted that as one of the United Nations communities, Nigeria voted for the sanction against Iran for refusing to subject itself to international inspection and monitoring of nuclear materials, saying that the sanction is for interest of the international community.”

 According to him, Nigeria plans to start nuclear power for the purposes of electricity supply, it has already subscribed to international regime, pointing out that the shipment of arms through Nigeria was a violation of those sanctions by Iran,  and Nigeria is under obligation to vote against Iran.

“We are all subject to the tragic consequences of terrorism such as that which occurred in Abuja on October 1, 2010. Nuclear weapons get into wrong hands so it behoves on all of us to ensure that nuclear materials are monitored and controlled,” Ajumogobia said adding “we have good relationship with the Republic of Iran and we are members of the G-8, the OPEC and the OIC and hoped that both countries would as able to work together.”

The foreign affairs minister noted that before any country ships of  arms, it must be with the consent of the National Security Adviser and explained that the suspects are being prosecuted for illegal importation of arms because there was no consent in the shipment.

He was confident that the International Community and ECOWAS would use legitimate force to remove Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, if displomacy faileds, adding that “a process whereby UN moves from peace-keeping to peace-enforcement may be used. We are not shirking our responsibilities of ECOWAS but we are saying that we need the sanction of the UN Security Council to be able to exercise force in a sovereign country.

Shedie Okpara