An appraisal of the diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and the United Kingdom in 1976

Abstract

This paper weighs in on the diplomatic wrangling between Nigeria and Britain in 1976 which necessitated the declaration of the then British High Commissioner in Lagos, Sir Martin le Quesne persona non grata and his subsequent sending out on March 4, 1976, by the then military regime of Nigeria. Employing a historical and correlational approach, it attempts to juxtapose the event against the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations with a view towards arriving at a systematic analysis, objective evaluation and proper synthesis of evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about this episode. The emergent result is that both parties were right in their respective actions within the context of the provisions of the VCDR. However, it is observed that they could have avoided the degeneration of their differences if tempers had been better controlled and more dialogue and contact established. The recourse to emotions, frustrations, and posturing by both sides only resulted in truncating the traditionally good relations between these erstwhile good friends.

Keywords: Diplomatic wrangling, Britain, Nigeria, persona non grata, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations