The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation released a communiqué following the Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI, refusing to respond favorably to a recent demand made by the Nigerian authorities requesting a telephone conversation between the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, and king Mohammed VI, and also refusing Nigeria’s request to sending an envoy to Morocco.
A statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said that “the request of the Nigerian authorities seems more like an act for getting back the Muslim electorate of this country than a normal diplomatic initiative.”
The statement further noted that “his Majesty the King did not consider it opportune to respond positively to this request, as the initiative is related to important elections in this country, might suggest a rapprochement between Morocco and Nigeria and because of this country’s positions regarding sacred national and Arab-Muslim causes.”
In the wake of this event, the Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Nigeria in Rabat, Mr. B.B. Hammam, was also summoned last Saturday, March 7th, 2015, at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation to be officially informed about King Mohammed VI’s decision.
The Moroccan authorities said that “the Nigerian diplomat was, on this occasion, reminded of the reasons of this decision, which are related to the current electoral context in Nigeria and the repetitive unfriendly and hostile positions of the Nigerian Government, regarding the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and the sacred Arab – Muslim causes, particularly that of the brotherly Palestinian people.“
The Moroccan Times.
