A chieftain of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode, has suggested that Nigeria should respond in kind to the visa restrictions imposed on some Nigerian politicians by the United States government.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, recently revealed that visa restrictions had been placed on certain individuals for their alleged role in undermining democracy during 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
This was disclosed in a statement released on his social media platforms on Tuesday.
The statement reads, “It is also my view that foreign policy, which ought to be based on the principle of equality of nations and conducted based on reciprocity, requires the Nigerian Federal Government to consider the possibility of doing the same; to nationals of those that have implemented and announced this measure and issue a visa ban to any foreign citizen or member of any corporate entity or institution that may have indulged in undermining democracy or rigging elections in either their own or any other country in the world over the last 25 years.
“Those that have imposed a visa ban on some “selected Nigerians” for allegedly “undermining democracy” and “rigging elections” are perfectly within their rights to do so because it is their country and they can do as they please.
“We should lose no sleep over that because the Nigerian people, a great and sovereign people who belong to a great and sovereign nation, spoke loudly and clearly and made their legitimate choices during a set of free, fair, and credible elections.
“Wherever any of those elections may have been rigged or democracy undermined can only be properly determined by our election tribunals and courts after all the facts and evidence have been adduced, examined and determined and not by any distant and/or partisan foreign government or power.”
