Nigeria angrily denies funding Zimbabwe opposition

Nigeria angrily denies funding Zimbabwe opposition

RELATIONS between Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo and Mugabe are at an all time low

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• Mugabe says 'never' to Britain

• Mugabe challenges Britain to war

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• Scepticism over electoral reforms

• Zim mulls electoral reforms

• Mugabe bars 'imperialist' poll observers

• Zim hints at postal ballot for exiles

• Mugabe's opponents wary of new electoral laws

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• Zimbabwe's future lies in voting

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• Tsvangirai's message to Zimbabweans

• MDC threatens poll boycott

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By Staff Reporter

NIGERIA has sent a strong protest to the Zimbabwean government over claims that it was being used by Britain as a conduit to bankroll the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The claims were published by the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper, ostensibly with the full backing of Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo who has cointrol over state media.

The Sunday Mail, an authority on Zimbabwe government policy, reported that Nigeria, through its diplomats in Harare, had promised the MDC at least Zim$200-million (about R225-million) for the March 2005 electoral campaign.

The promise reportedly was made at a meeting between top MDC officials, including its leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Nigerian embassy officials in the capital on July 28.

But Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olu Adeniji expressed the Federal Government's displeasure over the publication to the Zimbabwean High Commission in Nigeria.

The Minister described the allegations as "ludicrous and false".

Adeniji said Nigeria least expected such "patently untrue publication in the press of a friendly country for which Nigeria has sacrificed so much."

He charged the High Commissioner to convey Nigeria's displeasure and disappointment to his government over such periodic publications against Nigeria, which he said had become a pattern in Zimbabwe.

The MDC rejected the allegations, denying ever meeting Nigerian officials in Zimbabwe. "The allegation is completely without any merit," said MDC spokesperson William Bango.

Relations between Zimbabwe and Nigeria have soured in recent months - especially after Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to invite Mugabe to last December's Commonwealth summit in Abuja and backed the decision to prolong Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth.

Tensions are also high with former colonial ruler Britain over Zimbabwe's land reform program that saw thousands of white farmers evicted from their land that was handed to landless blacks.

Some of the evicted white farmers have been given farmland in Kwara state of Nigeria.
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