By Bola A. Akinterinwa
There were two major events in the past one week: the holding of a conference on Nigeria’s foreign policy and the consideration of a possible grant of political asylum to members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) by the Government of the United Kingdom. One important nexus between the two events is that they are both about foreign policy challenges that have always, at best, not been well addressed. For instance, how do we explain the quest for and the grant of an asylum to the IPOB? What is an asylum in international diplomatic practice? Should the reaction of the Federal Government, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to the grant of asylum by the British be an issue of concern?