MONROVIA – Liberia’s Minister of Information, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, says the Liberian government acted prudently and legally in the appointment of Mr. Akintunde Ojo as the country’s Honorary Consulate General to Mexico.
His statement was in response to FrontPageAfrica inquiry on the allegation of Mr. Ojo, a Nigerian, being an alleged drug criminal who bribed his way through the George Weah-led government for the acquisition of a Liberian diplomatic passport and a diplomatic post, for the purpose of carrying out his drug deals under the protection of Liberia’s sovereignty.
FrontPageAfrica has not been able to independently verify Mr. Ojo’s involvement with drugs and could not obtain any information on the internet that links him to any involvement in drug or crime.
It was alleged by Mr. Henry Costa during his live session on Facebook over the weekend that Mr. Ojo, having been denied a diplomatic passport during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2014 return to Liberia and defied the system under the current regime, attained a diplomatic passport and was posted to Mexico as Liberia’s Honorary Consulate General.
Mr. Nagbe’s response to FrontPageAfrica said as with the internationally accepted practice, the host governments transmit an exequatur through a diplomatic note to the Government of Liberia to allow an Honorary Counsel to serve in said country.
The issue also drew the attention of the Representative Edwin Snowe who heads the House Committee on Foreign Relations posted to Facebook: “This passport story is getting serious! Nigerian drug dealer as Liberian Honorary Consul to Mexico and issued Liberian Diplomatic Passport? Wow!!!”
Min. Nagbe: “Now regarding Representative Snowe and others who are regurgitating the falsehood that the government sold diplomatic passports to a drug dealer, the onus is on them to come forward with the information they have. The government is interested in seeing the evidence, however scanty. The government of Mexico too will be interested and so will the government of the United States who are working in close cooperation with our own security apparatus in fighting diverse areas of national and transnational crimes.”
According to the Information Minister, Representative Acarous Gray, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, has done a communication to cause Honorable Snowe to come forward with his evidence before the Foreign Relations committee.
He added: “Was it President Weah who invented the posts of Honorary Counsels or Ambassadors at Large? Absolutely not. In fact, there were hundreds of these foreigners appointed before he became President of Liberia. It is he who started streamlining the process to ensure that these people who actually represent the interests of the country, are properly vetted before being commissioned.”
He maintained that the government has nothing to hide and Liberia’s diplomatic partners are in the know of our actions and processes.