Following the controversy that trailed the purported recall of Nigeria's envoy to South Africa, and the denial by the presidency that the envoy was recalled, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Danjuma Nanpon Sheni, was on Tuesday suspended.
A Presidency source who pleaded anonymity told THISDAY that President Goodluck Jonathan was neither informed not put in the picture before the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced the recall of the nation's envoy to South Africa on the grounds of xenophobic attack in that country.
The source said at a meeting the president held with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Aminu Wali and other top government officials which lasted till early hours of Tuesday, Jonathan was said to have been extremely angry over the embarrassment the ministry had caused Nigeria diplomatically.
Only just recently, the ineptitude of the Foreign Affairs Ministry was displayed, when a phone calls was said to have been exchanged between the King of Morocco and Jonathan which was refuted first by the monarch and later by the president, the development resulted in a diplomatic spat between the two countries.
The Presidency source further told THISDAY that with the latest development, Jonathan would have sacked Wali but for the closeness of the expiration of his administration's tenure.
The suspended Permanent Secretary, according to the source, was first issued a query before he was suspended, while another permanent secretary was directed to replace him with immediate effect.
The Presidency source said: "President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Danjuma Nanpon Sheni for causing him the embarrassment.
"In this age of diplomatic dispatches, you don't need to recall or invite any envoy before you ask questions. He was also queried.
"The minister himself would have been fired, if not because we have just one month to go. In less than two months, they had embarrassed the government.
"They did the same mess in the Morocco saga. They were issuing statements without the president's approval".
Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/
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