A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and one of the media persons in the party, Femi Fani-Kayode, has reacted to a claim by the United States, that it has imposed a visa ban on some Nigerian politicians, who undermined the electoral process, during the just concluded general elections in the country.
The US had on Monday, through its Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, disclosed that its government has imposed visa restrictions on some certain Nigerians, for their alleged undermining of democracy during the last elections.
However, many reactions have trailed the claim, with several individuals, pressurising the US government, to had challenged the US government to prove its claim by disclosing the affected politicians, involved in the visa ban.
Also reacting to the claim through a statement issued on Tuesday, Fani-Kayode, revealed that the development was nothing to worry about, emphasizing that while the country has the right to determine who comes to their country or not, Nigeria is a sovereign country, which can decide which election was free or not.
According to the former aviation minister, only the judiciary in Nigeria can determine if the poll was in any way rigged, or not.
The statement reads in part, “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.
“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 calculation 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.
