Nigeria, Mr. Evaristo Kimba Domingos, has said that some Nigerians and citizens from other West African countries who seek to acquire illegal arms and ammunition are among those visiting Angola.
Angola ’s 27 years of civil war during which mercenaries deployed sophisticated weapons in the country, he said, gave such people the notion that arms could be easily procured in the Angolan black market.
Speaking with Sunday Punch in Abuja, Domingos also gave an insight into the deportation of the Niger Delta activist, Mr. Henry Okah who is standing trial in Nigeria for alleged attempt to import weapons.
The envoy said Angolan authorities had firm measures against any factor that negate development.
“Following five centuries of colonialism and 14 years of war against Portuguese colonialists, Angolans achieved national independence on November 11, 1975 .
“After independence, Angola faced great instability during 27 years of civil war. On April 4, 2002 , Angolans resolved to put an end to all internal conflicts that have devastated the country,” he stated.
Domingos who said that Angola had a policy that forbade disclosure of the country’s crude oil revenue to the public, said the six years of peace in the country had witnessed such infrastructural transformation and development that it could not allow unscrupulous persons within or outside the country to compromise.
“It is true that Angola came out of wars that raged for many years and that there are weapons around but many are no longer useful.
“Some persons have the perception that Angola is the place they can go for easy procurement of arms and an example is Mr. Okah. He was one of those who came, believing that it was easy to get weapons from Angola.
“Thanks to the watchful eyes of Angolan government security agents, he was caught and Angolans working with him were also caught. Because Angola is a member of African Union like Nigeria , we contacted the Federal Government of Nigeria and technical aspects of his extradition were sorted out.
“Because the Nigerian government had suspected him to be trafficking weapons to the Niger Delta, it issued a warrant and that is how the technicalities were resolved and he was handed over to the government of Nigeria,” Domingos explained.
He said that even though the Angolan government was using the courts and all other legal avenues to fight corruption, the proceeds of oil revenue were not made available for public knowledge.