Iran says Nigeria arms "misunderstanding" settled

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it has resolved a "misunderstanding" over an arms shipment seized in Lagos which Nigeria is likely to report to the United Nations Security Council as a possible breach of sanctions.

"The seized cargo belonged to a private company and it was for sale legitimately to a West African country," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters, without naming the country. "I think the misunderstanding has been resolved."

Diplomatic and security sources outside Iran said the intended destination of the weapons had not been clarified yet, but they added that investigations have focused on two Iranians believed to be senior members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

"One of the Iranian citizens ... provided all the necessary explanations to Nigerian officials," said Mottaki, who visited Nigeria last week. He also criticised suggestions which "are aimed at harming our relationship with Nigeria", but did not elaborate.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Friday that Lagos would report Iran to the Security Council if it found any evidence that the shipment broke U.N. sanctions imposed over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities.

The United States and its allies fear Iran's nuclear programme is a cover to build bombs. Tehran denies this, saying its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity.

Ajumogobia added that he did not currently believe Iran had broken the sanctions. However, a Nigerian diplomat in New York told Reuters that the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee would definitely be informed.

A Security Council resolution bans Iran from "supplying, selling or transferring directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals ... any arms or related material".

Buhari’s party raises alarm over blackmail

CONTRARY to claims, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on Sunday said its alliance talks with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and other parties was fully on course.

It said some opponents of the alliance were jittery thereby resorting to blackmail.

Raising the alarm in a statement on Sunday, CPC National Publicity Secretary, Mr Dennis Aghanya, said no amount of blackmail or propaganda could stall or derail the ongoing alliance discussions.

The party said, “The insinuation or assumption, that our talks with the ACN have collapsed, is not only false but was done in bad faith.

“For now, our discussions are centered on the nature of our alliance and not who becomes what. You must get to the bridge before you cross it. You cannot start sharing positions when you have not agreed on the terms of the relationship.

The CPC stated that it was not surprised that opponents of the alliance were resorting to propaganda because they were afraid that its success would break their stranglehold on the citizens.

Because it appreciated the importance of the 2011 elections, it said it was determined to establish a wider platform with other progressives, adding that Senator Bola Tinubu, who is the arrowhead of ACN, remained a major political force that should be carried along.

“We are also happy to have him as a political friend. The more the oppositions can come together, the better our chances to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] government in 2011,” the CPC stated.

Nigeria interrogates Iranian over Lagos arms shipment

Investigators are holding an Iranian in custody in connection with the shipment of arms discovered last Month at the Apapa Port in Lagos. Security sources told NEXT at the weekend that the man, who had taken refuge at the Iranian embassy, has been with officials of the State Security Service for about three days now and is already providing useful information.

“He is expected to throw more light on the involvement of the Nigerian consignee, who is also involved in the shipment of the arms,” the source said.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia had, last Friday after talks with the Iranian Foreign Affairs minister, Manouchehr Mottak, told journalists in Abuja that security agencies had been granted access to the Iranian embassy to interrogate the Iranian in their probe of the incident.

Mr Ajumogobia, who travelled to New York at the weekend, is also expected to brief the United Nations on the incident. The Nigerian official is in the United States for a Security Council discussion on Sudan where participants will be briefed on the preparations for the January 2011 referendum in south Sudan, the situation in Darfur and progress of the Doha peace talks.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon is expected to do the briefing along with the Head of the AU High-Level Implementation Monitoring Panel, Thabo Mbeki; the Head of UN Mission in Sudan, Haile Menkerios and the Head of UN/AU Mission in Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari.

UN arms sanction

But Mr Ajumogobia is also expected to raise the issue of the arms export, especially as Iran is under a UN conventional arms ban. The resolution affirming the ban also empowers states to seize and dispose the prohibited items when they are found.

On Oct. 26, Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) discovered 13 containers of illegal weapons at the port. A French-based shipping company, CNA CGM, said the shipment originated from the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and was delivered to Lagos in July. The shipping company said labels on the crates indicated they contained stone and glass wool.

The shipment was subsequently taken to a depot where it was left untouched. The cargo was later opened and found to contain artillery rockets and shells, mortars and hand grenades, among others.