It all happened within 24 hours. One Nigerian official advised her countrymen not to travel to the United States unless there was a compelling reason to do so, until, she added in a statement, the United States immigration policy became clear.
Another Nigerian senior official then held a press conference discarding what the other official had said and telling his countrymen that Nigerians with valid travel documents were free to travel to the United States.
It all played out in the media – a tough press statement and a hurridly arranged press conference.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Tuesday countered a travel advisory by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Onyeama, at a press conference in Abuja, said Nigerians with valid US visas were free to embark on their trips.
On Monday, Dabiri-Erewa advised Nigerians against visiting the US for now until there is clarity on US President Donald Trump’s new immigration policy.
Her advisory was issued, she said, following disclosure that Nigerians with valid travel documents were denied entry into the United States and sent back.
Nigerian newspaper, The Punch, quoted an unnamed source as saying that “Onyeama might have been directed to issue a rebuttal on the advisory in order to assert his position as the one in charge of the nation’s diplomatic relations”.
The source said, “The rebuttal of Dabiri-Erewa’s travel advisory clearly exposes the division in the Federal Government. For the minister to have issued a counter-advisory without broaching the issue with the SSA (Dabiri-Erewa) or even taking time to find out the veracity of the report confirms the deep crack in the government.
“Onyeama may have been pressured to stick his neck out by a top member of the cabal and this is clear from the hastily organised press briefing he held.”
ThOnyeama at the briefing denied that Nigerians with valid travel documents were being sent back. He called on Nigerians to ignore the travel advisory by the other official.
“On the issue of Nigerians being turned back from the US, this is not the case. If the Nigerian government is speaking on any external relations, you will hear it from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Office of the President.
“I have reached out to the US Ambassador to Nigeria and the country’s high level officials who said nothing of such had happened. I can tell you to ignore the advice to reconsider travelling to the US because there is no basis for that,” he added.
According to Dabiri-Erewa, at least four Nigerians were denied entry into the US in the last two weeks.
She advised Nigerians without any compelling or essential reasons to visit the US to consider delaying their trips “until there is clarity on the new immigration policy.”
The Punch quoted a victim of the US travel ban, Francis Adekola, as narrating how he was detained for over 10 hours at the Atlanta Airport on February 15 and then placed on the next available flight and returned to Abuja via Johannesburg.
A software engineer, Celestine Omin, had also tweeted his experience with the US border protection guards who delayed him and subjected him to mental humiliation when he visited America on the invitation of a tech firm, Andela.
The US Mission to Nigeria, however, denied that Nigerian citizens were barred from visiting America, pointing out that those denied entry might have had immigration issues peculiar to them.
The embassy spokesman, Russel Brooks, said Nigeria was not among countries affected by Trump’s executive order on immigration.
“On the statement issued by the special assistant to the president, again Nigeria was not named among the six countries, Nigerians are still able to travel to the US just as they were previously. An individual’s ability to travel to the US is based on that individual’s circumstances,” Brooks said, noting that the US Department of Homeland Security which was in charge of all the US ports of entry was free to allow or deny entry to any visitor, according to a report in The Punch.Labels: globalpolitics, latest, nigerianpolitics, politics
