(Photo Montage:The king and Jonathan.Credit:Morocco World News)
By Danlami Nmodu
Morocco’s Foreign Ministry has announced that HM King Mohammed VI has rejected a request by Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan for a telephone conversation.
The kings’ position which was published by the Morocco World News quoted a Foreign Ministry Affairs Communique as having announced Friday that “the request by Nigerian authorities for a phone conversation between HM King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President was refused by the Monarch who deemed it inappropriate on grounds of the upcoming elections in Nigeria.”
The report also said Morocco “refused to accept the request which he deemed ‘inappropriate’ on grounds that it is linked to the important elections in Nigeria and also because of Nigeria’s positions regarding the sacred national, Arab and Islamic causes, the Ministry said in a statement.
The official statement also said “The Nigerian authorities request for the phone conversation and the sending of a Nigerian envoy to the Kingdom is more akin to an attempt to gain Muslim votes than a normal diplomatic act”
Beyond the campaign issues though ,it appears the Morrocan King’s anger with Nigeria runs deeper.According to the Moroccan newspaper , “Nigeria is one of the stanch allies of Algeria, South Africa and Venezuela in defending the Polisario with the regards to the question of Western Sahara. Nigeria, which is a non-permanent member of the Security Council, has been lobbying the United Nations and calling for the establishment of human rights monitoring mechanism in the territory.
“Africa’s most populous nation is also one of the few countries that recognize the self-proclaimed ‘Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)’”.
