Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN)One of the two Iranians connected with the controversial shipment of arms and ammunition to the Apapa Port in Lagos, has fled to Iran.The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), who made this known on Tuesday, said the suspect, left Nigeria with the delegation of the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.He told journalists before leaving New York, United States, where he addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on Sudan, that Mottaki refused his request to quiz the suspect before he (suspect) fled the country.According to him, the Iranian foreign minister hinged his refusal on the fact that the suspect had diplomatic immunity.He said, “I sought from the foreign minister, an access to interview him, but he was not willing to do that. He (the suspect) ... went back on the foreign minister’s delegation.”Ajumogobia said he had asked Mottaki to wave the Iranian’s diplomatic status, but he declined to do so.“I asked the Iranian foreign minister to give access to the diplomat for what it was worth. There were two Iranians mentioned. The facts came to life through discussions with Mottaki, that the other one is a diplomat.”Mottaki had on Monday said in Tehran that the ‘misunderstanding’ between the two countries over the arms shipment had been resolved.He told journalists after his brief visit to Nigeria last week, he had cleared the way for Nigerian interrogators to quiz the second Iranian suspect.Asked to respond to this claim, Ajumogobia said Mottaki must have been referring to how he (Mottaki) facilitated access to the second suspect at the Iranian embassy in Abuja.He recalled that he had asked the Iranian minister to direct his country’s then Ambassador to Nigeria, Hussein Abdullahi, to grant access to the two suspects “but that did not happen in almost a week.”Ajumogobia said, “I explained to the foreign minister of Iran that we had international obligations to carry out, but we needed to have the facts, we want to be accurate in our reports to the Security Council and this individual will throw light on the issue.”The minister added that while his Iranian counterpart insisted that arms the shipment was meant for elsewhere, “ I was concerned that the shipment was here in Nigeria.”Ajumogobia also denied that Western powers mounted pressure on Nigeria to report the weapon’s seizure to the Security Council.“I feel we have international obligations to carry out as responsible members of the UN and it is as simple as that. I made that very clear to the Iranian foreign minister when I met him in Abuja last week,’’ he said.The minister added that most senior foreign diplomats had told him at the UN that they were impressed with Nigeria’s handling of the issue.However, he did not mention any specific country that commended Nigeria.But Ajumogobia said the next step for Nigeria was to continue with the ongoing investigation into the issue and submit a detailed report to the UN committee later.Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu, had on Monday, formally notified the Security Council sanctions committee over the seizure of the arms.Ajumogobia also reacted to the claim by a shipping company based in France, CMA CGM, that the weapons concealed in 13 containers labelled as building materials, were being shipped to The Gambia before the Nigerian security operatives intercepted them.He said, “My view is that if a third party is laying claim to a cargo in Nigeria, then they will do so properly and through the proper channels. I haven’t had such a claim brought to my attention.“When it is, I will deal with it appropriately. In the meantime, the security agencies are still investigating that aspect of the claim on their own.”He explained that as a foreign minister, he would “not speculate as to who or what is claiming to anything, because under the Resolution 1929, we have clear obligation to report any arms contravention to the UN.’’He also denied that the Nigeria Football Federation might have cancelled a friendly match with Iran because of the seeming diplomatic row over the illegal arms shipment.Ajumogobia said, “My understanding is that they had some technical problems. There were some players who were supposed to play in the friendly match that were not available.“I think it was just a mere coincidence. It wasn’t connected as far as I am concerned.’’A US-based Nigerian news agency, Empowered Newswire, reported on Wednesday that the arms shipment to Nigeria was discussed informally at the Security Council meeting on Tuesday.Those that attended the meeting included the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon; the US Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton; and her United Kingdom’s counterpart, Mr. William Hague.
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