Nigerian govt. reacts to Canada denying Chief of Defense Staff, others Visa | READ DETAILS
The Chief of Defense Staff to Nigeria, General Christopher Musa on Thursday, revealed that he and some members of his team were denied visa by the Canadian embassy
Speaking at the maiden annual lecture of the National Association of the Institute for Security Studies, Musa said they were to attend an event to honour war veterans in Canada.
Reacting to the development on Friday, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the visa denial is disrespecting Nigeria and not just the CDS.
“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,” Tunji-Ojo said.
Reacting also, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, who was at the same event where the CDS narrated how he and other top military officers were denied visas, said;
has berated Canada for denying General Musa and other army chiefs visas.
“Thank you for the courage to say Canada denied you visas. They can go to hell.”
“Even though it’s painful, it’s disrespectful, but we are peaceful and strong and I agree with you that it is time to fix our country. Yet, this is another reason we work hard to make Nigeria work.”
