Here comes trouble: Hannaniya
By Elizabeth Ohene
He was a senior military officer until the December 31, 1983 coup, then his colleagues decided to give him a plum diplomatic post. Since then, he has moved from trouble to trouble.Spare a thought for Major-General Anthony Hannaniya would you please? Remember him? He of the "I am not aware" answers to journalists on the steps of the Foreign and Commonwealth offices during the Dikko kidnap affair. I wonder whether he generates controversy or there is a jinx on him. I don't know what his life had been like before 1984. From all indications he had one of those meteoric rises in his military career, the type that happens only in African armed forces. Between April 1984 and April 1985, however, he seems to have attracted more than his fair share of controversy.
The first major incident he was involved in, albeit indirectly, was the Decree 4 problems of the Guardian newspaper in Lagos. The problems that ended with the first and hitherto only prosecution under Decree 4.
It will be recalled that Mr Tunde Thompson, senior diplomatic correspondent, and Mr Nduka Irabor, the assistant news editor, were prosecuted on three counts of false publications. The details of those accusations, the subsequent trials and convictions and recent release are matters that have been well documented in this and other publications. It is pertinent, however, to recall the three publications that the Federal Military Government was angry about:
1. 11 Foreign Missions to be closed down (March 31)
2. Eight military chiefs tipped as Ambassadors (April 1)
3. Haruna replaces Hannaniya as new UK envoy (April 8)
In the second publication entitled "Eight Military Chiefs tipped as ambassadors", the Guardian named Major-General Tony Hannaniya as having been tipped to man the High Commission in London. A week later the paper published that a decision had been made to replace Hannaniya as the UK envoy with Haruna. In the event, the two journalists were found guilty on only this last count which said that Hannaniya was being replaced. That item was deemed to be false and the government claimed that no such decision had ever been made and they could argue the point persuasively because by the time of the trial, Maj- Gen Hannaniya was nicely settled in London as Nigeria's High Commissioner.
Those who know say that a decision had, indeed, been taken to replace Hannaniya, as the British were not particularly anxious to have a military man as High Commissioner. But by this time, the FMG was anxious to make an example of some newspaper and decided that they will stick to Hannaniya simply to show that the Guardian story was false.
So to London Maj-Gen Hannaniya came and presented his credentials to her Majesty the Queen, while the Guardian trial continued.
The journalists were convicted on July 4 1984, and the very next day, July 5 1984, Alhaji Umaru Dikko was kidnapped on a London street. When he was recovered by British security agents in a crate at Stansted Airport, there were a number of Gen Hannaniya's staff at the airport who had gone to see off their human cargo.
There have been three very important episodes that have attracted international attention in Nigeria this past year - the Decree 4 trials, the Dikko kidnap affair, the Nigeria-Ethiopia football rumpus - one way or the other Halidu Hannaniya has featured in them all. Is there a jinx on the man?
Before he even had a chance to host his first diplomatic cocktail party to celebrate his arrival in London, Maj- Gen Hannaniya was in the midst of a furious diplomatic row. The whole world saw an obviously flustered Maj-Gen Hannaniya trying without success to deny the involvement of his High Commission and his country. Can he explain the presence of members of his staff at Stansted airport? - "I'm not aware". Can he explain why the British Foreign Secretary was so angry and had summoned him to the Foreign Office? - "I'm not aware". What about the Nigerian Airways plane at the airport, and to every question, Maj-Gen Hannaniya was not aware...
The next day he was sent away from London cutting very prematurely short his position as Nigeria's High Commissioner to the UK. It made many people wonder, and those who are superstitious saw in it some prophetic sign. Supposing the Guardian "speculation' about his replacement was even false, might it not be that the paper foresaw what was going to happen? Whatever the thinking, the reality was that Maj-Gen Hannaniya was back in Lagos and it was obvious that not many countries would be anxious to accept him as an Ambassador after the disaster in London.
Possibly his position would have been enhanced if the Nigerian government had been able to accept responsibility for the failed kidnap drama, but publicly the FMG had put a lot of distance between the administration and Maj-Gent Hannaniya.
London was obviously not going to have him back no matter the amount of behind-the-scenes pressure, and the FMG also had to show its appreciation to the man who had absorbed the blows on their behalf. Before the trial of the kidnappers of Alhaji Dikko, Maj-Gen Hannaniya was announced as Nigeria's Ambassador to Ethiopia. In diplomatic circles, before the latest famine pictures from Ethiopia hit the world, Addis Ababa was considered quite a plum post. Not in terms of a fashionable or culturally elite city, but being the seat of the OAU, it is the fourth highest ranked city in terms of the number of diplomatic missions Thus it could be argued that Maj-Gen Hannaniya had not suffered much of a come-down from having been thrown out of the diplomatic capital of the world.
One would have thought that the greatest problem Maj-Gen Hannaniya could face in Addis Ababa would be speeches to United Nations agencies or relief agencies bringing in food aid to starving Ethiopians; who could have imagined that the good man would be in the midst of yet another diplomatic row, instigated this time by, of all things, a football match!
countries and clubs appear incapable of taking football simply as a game, but it seems too much of a coincidence that it should be Maj-Gen Hannaniya who should be Nigeria's Ambassador to Ethiopia when a row should erupt between Nigeria and Ethiopia over a football match. As the story was reported, the Ethiopians were not amused in the least when Nigerian players taunted the Ethiopians about their hunger problems. Anybody could have told the Nigerians that hunger is nothing to joke about and definitely not on the scale being suffered by the Ethiopians. No wonder they were so angry and reacted so violently.
Seeing that the provocation came from the Nigerians, it was surprising that they rather took such a strong line in the controversy, threatening to send planes to evacuate their citizens, etc. One wonders whether the Nigerian reaction was based on the advice of the country's ambassador anxious to be in the midst of another diplomatic row! They possibly thought that Ethiopia was like Guinea Bissau that they had bamboozled weeks before.
All the same it looks as though Maj-Gen Hannaniya had decided that he had had enough trouble in one year and did not want to start packing his bags again and the trouble appears to have been resolved with an apology from Ethiopia.
And so Ambassador Hannaniya can stay on in Addis Ababa for a few more weeks? Months? Years? I wouldn't bet on him considering his track record this past year. It wouldn't be surprising if Lloyd's of London turned down an insurance request from him. It's enough to make anybody wonder if there is a jinx over him.
