In 2006, Nigerian DSS and NIA refused Ghadaffi guards large weapons into Abuja.
Remembering the Abuja Airport
Security Showdown of 2006.
Gaddafi arrived for a summit but brought his own army.
The Nigerian security system refused to be intimidated. DSS, NIA, Immigration and the Nigerian Army insisted on national security protocol.
Gaddafi threatened to return to Libya.
Obasanjo played the perfect diplomat, joking with Gaddafi on the outside while instructing his officials inside to not shift ground.
In November 2006, the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with more than two hundred armed guards and several aircraft loaded with arms for the Africa-South America Summit.
The Face-off:
What Caused It: Nigerian security agencies, made up of the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency and immigration officers, stopped Gaddafi’s heavily armed team and vehicles carrying weapons from leaving the airport into the city, on grounds of national security and the law guiding importation of arms.
How Gaddafi Reacted: Gaddafi became angry, declined to declare or hand over the weapons, and threatened to fly back to Libya or trek the forty kilometres, about twenty five miles, into Abuja by foot.
How It Was Settled:
What Obasanjo Did: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo came to the airport during the deadlock. He kept a cheerful mood with Gaddafi while secretly telling Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode to stand firm that the unapproved arms would not be allowed into Abuja.
How It Ended: After talks, the Libyan team gave in. They were permitted to hold on to only eight pistols at most, while the remaining weapons and heavy ammunition were taken back and kept inside their planes under the watch of the Nigerian military.
Credit: Abiola Aremu Ogunlade.