◆ SpookStack

... M T , M > « .. *. • « « i -. li t . .. ;-.•- — 4 — The Prime Minister asked Brigadier Garba to trust him. He did not think that there would be any difficulties from President Kaunda or President Nyerere or Mr. Arap Moi. None of them seemed to think that he had done anything improper. Brigadier Garba said that he was not accusing the Prime Minister of impropriety but the BBC had published a version of the Prime Minister's letter. The British should trust Nigeria. After all, Lord Thomson had been to see them, and if the British had taken the Nigerians into their confidence, the Nigerians could have helped. He did not think the Prime Minister would have lost anything by explaining things frankly both to the Nigerians and to other Africans. The Prime Minister said that he understood this, but repeated that he had not wanted to involve the Commonwealth; on the contrary he had wanted to protect it. Brigadier Garba recognised that the Prime Minister's position was difficult and that this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was not only being held in London, but at the time of The Queen's Silver Jubilee. This was bound to increase the pressures. In the course of further discussion, the Prime Minister repeated that we had followed General Obasanjo's advice in the way we had played the affair, although it was true we had not consulted the Nigerians about the terms of his message to President Amin.