March 25: Today in Nigeria history, Obasanjo’s led administration agreed to hand war crimes fugitive, Charles Taylor to Liberia

• Nigeria agreed to hand war crimes fugitive, Charles Taylor to Liberia
• Slave Trade Act 1807: Britain prohibited subjects from trafficking in slaves

According to Ronald Reagan, history teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

Every historical fact deserves to be preserved. Every detail—positive or negative—represents a positive component of who we are, therefore we must treat them with respect. While making predictions for the future, we must keep in consideration both the past’s accomplishments and failures.

WITHIN NIGERIA has highlighted four noteworthy events that shaped every March 25 in the country’s history in an effort to increase awareness or maintain our memories as residents of this country through contemplation on the past.

Nigeria agreed to hand war crimes fugitive, Charles Taylor to Liberia

On this date, 25th of March in 2006, the Federal Government of Nigeria disclosed that it will send back to Liberia exiled ex-president and one-time warlord Charles Taylor, wanted for trial on war crimes by a UN-backed court.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was Liberian President demanded that Taylor’s asylum in Nigeria be ended and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he would discuss the request with regional leaders.

However, Obasanjo, then Nigerian President told Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf that the government of Liberia is free to take former President Charles Taylor into its custody,” the presidency said in a statement.

Taylor was directly sent to Sierra Leone, where a UN-backed court had indicted him on 17 counts of alleged war crimes for his role in supporting that country’s brutal rebel movement during a 1991-2001 civil war.

Recall that Obasanjo granted Taylor, a one-time warlord and rebel leader himself, asylum in Nigeria to help end the 1989-2003 civil war that Taylor started.

Obasanjo was lauded at the time for brokering peace and helping arrange Liberia’s transitional administration but has been under pressure recently to hand Taylor to the war crimes tribunal.

Obasanjo has said he would accede to any request from a democratically elected Liberian leader.

Sirleaf’s January inauguration after a November electoral victory ended Liberia’s post-war administration. At the time she said that Taylor’s extradition was not a priority for her government.

Her request for extradition came while she was on an official visit to the US, prompting speculation that she had changed her mind under pressure from US officials who could offer substantial aid.

Slave Trade Act 1807: Britain prohibited subjects from trafficking in slaves

On this day, March 25, 1807, Britain forbade her citizens from engaging in the slave trade in Africa, with Nigeria being one of the main nations whose inhabitants were trafficked.

The Act of Parliament to abolish the British slave trade, passed on 25 March 1807, was the culmination of one of the first and most successful public campaigns in history.