John M. O. Igbokwe

A Broken Mission: Nigeria's Failed Diplomacy in the Philippines and the Fight for Justice and Embassy Reform John M. O. Igbokwe

The storming and week-long occupation of the Embassy of Nigeria in the Philippines by students in 1986 had one purpose - to fight apathy and turn the Mission towards its true mandate of serving the interests of Nigeria. Treachery had betrayed this purpose, leaving successive Nigerian envoys ever more deadened to the care of their charges. By the early to late 1990s, four known and two probable Nigerian citizens had been assassinated in cold-blood in various cities across archipelagic Philippines, in circumstances that were questionable and suspect. The Embassy of Nigeria was headed by Charge d'Affaires a. i. Samuel I. Ajewole, a Deeper Life fundamentalist, who had abdicated his responsibilities to a criminally-inclined, skirt-chasing Head of Chancery named Femi Akenson Rotimi. Fear had gripped the Nigerian Community which started to clamor for official show of concern and interest by the Mission in these wanton violations of human rights. The embassy, hiding behind indefensible diplomatic clichés sat on its hands and did nothing. As the agitation for action mounted, the Mission resorted to intimidation and death threats against one of its citizens leading to unprecedented polarization in the small Nigerian Community. A Broken Mission is the story of Nigeria's failed diplomacy in the Philippines, based on the two-year crusade to reform the Embassy of Nigeria, Manila, following official indifference to these murders. The book chronicles the implacable advocacy for justice and clean embassy government that sought to force an inept, abusive and corrupt diplomatic Mission headed by a rogue, scandalous diplomat to reform and serve its community with respect and sensitivity.