Visa Ban: US has no bases to impose ban on Nigeria – Ubani

Mon, Feb 3, 2020
By publisher
4 MIN READ

Politics

MONDAY Onyekachi Ubani, lawyer, has criticized the United States of America for imposing blanket immigration visa ban on Nigeria. He urged Donald Trump led administration to reverse its decision on Nigeria and focus on politicians and government officials, who refused to address insecurity in the country.

Ubani, in a statement titled ‘Weekend Random Thoughts’, said there was no justification for the blanket ban or any ban at all because there was no terrorist attack in America that was linked to Nigeria or Nigerians. “There are two issues I need to address this evening because it is bothering my mind greatly and I need to free myself and mind quickly. The first issue is the blanket immigration visa ban the Trump administration has slammed on over 200 million Nigerians, which policy was made public this weekend.

“According to report, the main reason for the ban is the non-transparency on information sharing and the apparent inability of the government to tackle the menace of terrorism in Nigeria. You heard me right. While one is not quarreling with Americans over her policy on who should be allowed into their country, it is obviously unjust, wicked and irresponsible of any government in the world to punish the entire citizens of a nation due to failure or inappropriate behavior of temporary political office holders of that country.

Why punish a whole nation due to the perceived failure of temporary office holders? Trump has just succeeded in manifesting his hatred for blacks, and Nigeria that represents a home to the greatest number of blacks in the world provided the starting point for him. If you ask me, there is no justification for the blanket ban or any ban at all. There is no terrorist attack in America that is linked to Nigeria or Nigerians. The American Government is advised to reverse the blanket ban and remove Nigeria from any future consideration for diplomatic punishment; we do not deserve such punishment whether now or in the near future. America by now should have known who their genuine friends are, Nigeria is certainly one,” he said.

Ubani also criticized southeast governors for seeking permission from the federal government before establishing a security outfit in the region. “The second issue is the information that the South East Governors have concluded plans to establish a security outfit similar to Amotekun, but that they have written to the federal government for reasons that were not specified in the report. I will quickly interject that if the purport of the letter is to seek permission from the federal government, then that was a great error.

“It is a great error because the states in the federation do not require the consent of the federal government to establish security outfits to provide security measures in their areas of jurisdiction. What they need to do is to enact laws establishing such outfit that will harmonize and work with the Nigeria Police Force to keep their domain safe and secured. I cannot understand why Governor Umahi of Ebonyi State and his colleagues cannot follow the precedent already established by the South West Governors.

“Work out the modalities first before discussing with the federal government. From what I gathered from the report, the modalities, structure and name have not been agreed on, but a letter is already written seeking from the federal government what I know not. Let us hope that the federal government will not turn in a negative response, rubbishing the unsolicited humility over a serious matter that concerns security of a whole region or zone. Let them note and know that they put their wrong foot forward,” he said.

– Feb. 3, 2020 @ 11:55 GMT |

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