The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has expressed disapproval of the Canadian Embassy’s refusal to grant a visa to Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
General Musa revealed on Thursday during the inaugural annual lecture of the National Association of the Institute for Security Studies that the Canadian embassy had denied him and several members of his team visas to attend an event in Canada to honor war veterans.
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Tunji-Ojo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said the action by the Canadian embassy is condemnable and shows a lack of respect for Nigeria as a country.
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 stated that he is finding it difficult to understand the justification behind Canada’s actions, emphasizing that if there were any questions to be raised, diplomatic channels could have been used to address them.
He expressed confidence that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would take the appropriate diplomatic measures to resolve the issue and ensure mutual respect between the two countries.
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