By John James, Lagos.
The Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, criticized the Canadian Embassy for denying a visa to Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
General Musa revealed at a recent event that he and his team were denied visas by the Canadian embassy to attend an event honoring war veterans in Canada. Tunji-Ojo, speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, condemned the embassy’s actions as disrespectful to Nigeria.
The minister questioned how an average Nigerian would be treated by the Canadian embassy if the Chief of Defence Staff were disrespected in that way.
“Without knowing the full facts, I think even for us it is a policy, the issue of reciprocity as I always say, has to be given due consideration. As much as we are not ready to dabble into the sovereignty of other nations, the issue of visas, issue of migration management is a sovereign issue.
“As much as we don’t want to dabble into that, it is not a disrespect to the chief of defence staff, to me, without knowing the facts, it is disrespectful to the country, and it is disrespectful to us as a people. If that can happen to the chief of defence staff, then I am worried for an average Nigerian.
The Minister said that he is struggling to find justification for the action by Canada, noting that even if there are questions the embassy needed to ask, there are diplomatic back channels in which that could have been done.
He said he is confident that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take the necessary steps to resolve the issue diplomatically and ensure that there is mutual respect between the two nations.
The Minister raised concerns about how an ordinary Nigerian would be treated if the Chief of Defence Staff could face such disrespect. He emphasized the need for reciprocity in visa matters and called for diplomatic solutions to resolve the issue.
In a separate incident, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, criticized Canada for denying visas to General Musa and other military officials. Ribadu described the denial as disrespectful, stating that “They can go to hell.”
Ribadu applauded General Musa for his leadership in addressing security challenges and emphasized the importance of national unity and progress in making Nigeria stronger.
