"I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army that thoroughly defeated your rag tag Biafran Army" - Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi in a letter to his supervising Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe.

I could not believe that a matured man of balanced mind would utter such a statement let alone put it in writing and publish it to the world in Nigeria of 2009; the tragedy is that the man also happens to be Nigerias Ambassador to the United States America in the Obama Era.

When you realise that a man like Oluwole Rotimi has been bearing many public offices for almost fifty years and might have been "mentoring" or indeed indoctrinating younger people with his bile it is not difficult to fathom why our Nation has remained in the doldrums.

Any character profiler will tell you that any man who can utter such rubbish is totally unworthy and incapable of bearing any responsible public office; the greater tragedy is that in that letter, "Ambassador" Oluwole Rotimi showed the true stuff he is made of and I will proceed to analyse the purport of that letter as a window to the man who wrote it; viz:

a)      The writer Oluwole Rotimi is above 70 years of age; and this shows that even age has not bridled what is clearly an intemperate tongue in an intemperate spirit.

b)      Oluwole Rotimi wrote that letter to his boss; this shows a mutinuous spirit not subject to constituted authority.

c)       Rotimi threatened to "deal with" his boss; this reveals a man who will employ deviousness outside regular or normal channels to achieve an end as it is totally antithetical for one to threaten to deal with ones supervisor. Indeed Lord Esher Master of the Rolls warned of such men when he posited that “a man who has done one contemptible thing to benefit himself will do another, if necessary, in order to carry out and complete the object he has in view".

d)      Oluwole Rotimi is under the captivity of a past which he has chosen to live in with only his own prejudices as he even repudiates the authority of his own Commander - In -  Chief, General Yakubu Gowon who had declared "No Victor No Vanquished" in January 1970.

e)       Oluwole Rotimi is a xenophobist as he clearly labels anybody from a particular area as a member of a "rag tag army" thoroughly defeated by him the "Adjutant General".

I could go on and on to unveil what was made evident by an outburst by a man we might have called an Elder Statesman in our usual penchant for ascribing such to senior citizens of all colours had he not shown the stuff he was not made of.

I shudder when I consider the amount of damage this man would have been wrecking on our National Life in the past fifty years when he had borne various public offices with considerable power and influence.

The question everybody must be asking is how could President Olusegun Obasanjo have made a man of such uncouth tongue, violent temperament and rebellious spirit an ambassador let alone our envoy to a flagship Nation like the United States of America.

Another question is how come a man who is above seventy, a grandfather figure, an "educated" man, an "enlightened" man be abusing anyone let alone his Oga as a  "thoroughly defeated Biafran" 39 years after the then Head of State General Yakubu Gown declared no victor no vanquished? Too many questions to ask.

This tells volumes about the process of advancement in public office in Nigeria where misfits are thrust into leadership, it further shows the vacuity of those who promote such incompetence into prominence and sometimes into preeminence; this is one of the worst types of corruption; Mother Theresa the "Saint of Calcutta" said "among the qualities of a nation on the verge of a catastrophe is the elevation of corrupt elements to the position of authority and a sense of confidence that it is normal" I thank my friend Yarriman Zazzau for availing me this quote. When you unleash an Oluwole Rotimi as Nigerias ambassador to the United States of America, a man who has exposed himself as incapable of calling every Nigerian his brother, a man who is entombed in pre - 1970 supremacy over at least one third of Nigerian territory; a man who recklessly abused and threatens constituted authority and in this case his supervising boss you have committed the type of corruption that brings infamy to a Nation as you have provided a very high and visible international platform for incompetence to be displayed. Indeed Chief Justice Holt in the case of Reg v. Langley (1703) 2 Raym 1020 said "It is a disparagement of the Government, who put an ill man into office"; lord Mansfield was to expound further when he said in R v. Bambridge (1783); 22 How St. Tr. 155 that "If a man accepts an office of trust and confidence, concerning the public, especially when it is attended with profit, he is answerable to the King for his execution of that office"; substitute Mr. President for King and Chief Ojo Maduekwe as Mr. Presidents representative and you begin to appreciate that ambassador Oluwole Rotimi abused Mr. President nay the Nigerian Nation.

This brings us to the more important issue of the role of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a clearing house for Senior Government Officials. The Constitution in its wisdom has empowered the Senate to approve after screening certain nominees before they can be appointed into offices, amongst such offices' is the office of Minister' and ambassadors; columnists and cartoonists have lampooned endlessly the "bow and go" custom that has trivialised what ought to be thorough screening and assessment of persons nominated to bear very important offices of the State.

Take the case of Senator Hillary Clinton the present Secretary of State of the United States of America who was a sitting Senator when she was nominated, her peers and colleagues extended to her all the courtesies and camaraderie due to one of theirs and immediately thereafter the Senate of the United States of America settled in to the job at hand, Senator Clinton was drilled, interviewed, interrogated and her affairs and' even her husbands affairs were x-rayed; she was thoroughly screened, yet her clearance was not a given, there was a call for a vote by a Senator and the Senate overwhelmingly endorsed her but the few that voted against her are on record .. That is a Senate at work.

I doubt if Oluwole Rotimi had been a closet xenophobist not to talk about a belligerent tribalist all these long years in public office, his very recent vituperations in an official correspondence could not have been concealed all these years. His total inadequacy as a public officer could only have been concealed by a system run by men who care little for excellence and character and who see public office as patronage for cronies and "Loyal" officers no matter what collateral damage such incompetence does to the nation and the nationalities therein. I dare say that any due diligence by the Senate in undertaking their screening process would have caused people who know that Oluwole Rotimi is unfit and unworthy of bearing public office to come forth and tender their reasons either in person or even anonymously; but because people presume the Senate to be unserious about screening they keep their wise and foolish counsel to themselves.

By his vituperations and unconscionable conduct Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi is clearly guilty of gross misconduct as we lawyers would say Res Ipsa loquitor - "The act speaks for itself' and it is trite that the penalty for such aggravated infamy is summary dismissal, thus giving him 40 days to clear his desk (recall) is incongruent.

Thomas Jefferson the third President of the USA in a letter to Baron Von Humboldt in 1807 said "when a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself a public property", men like Oluwole Rotimi have over the years borne Nigerian Offices and National Public trust, but have never considered themselves as serving the whole of Nigeria as in their mindsets there are several categories of Nigerians and I am sure in due season a man with such schizophrenia would have a way to "deal with" another Nigerian from Jigawa State, only God knows how he categorizes President Yar'Adua.

Summary dismissal of Oluwole Rotimi for gross misconduct is recommended in consonance with the prescription of Pollock C. B. in Reg. v. Penton (1848) 2 Exch. Rep. 220 where he said tiThe Crown (i.e. the State) cannot ever be prejudiced by the misconduct or negligence of any of its officers".

Chief Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike, ksc is an  Attorney @ Law

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Editor`s update:Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi has  however responded to the statement  credited to him.Read his statement below:

 “I wish to acknowledge receipt of the message of the Honourable  Minister of Foreign Affairs conveying the directive of His Excellency the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umar Musa YarAdua, (GCFR) recalling me as his  principal representative in the  United States of America. I will dutifully comply with this order.
“However, I wish to also seize this opportunity to correct some misconception and distortion attributed to the Honorable Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe by the media.
“The little snippet of information released to the press stating that in the exchange of correspondence between us, I called him a tribalist is inaccurate. In addition, the reference to the defeat of "Biafra" was completely taken out of context.
“Moreover, I would like to assure all patriotic Nigerians that I have no intention to cast any aspersion on any ethnic community in Nigeria. I have always believed in and worked for and will continue to work for the unity of Nigeria even when I am not in the public service.
“I have had the privilege and honor to serve under distinguished and gallant senior officers of different ethnic backgrounds in my service to the Nigerian Army. In addition, the God Almighty has blessed me with children whose mother is half Igbo and half Yoruba.
“Finally, let me state with all my heart that this distortion is deeply regretted and I honestly apologize to anyone who has felt slighted in any form.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”