The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has criticized the Canadian High Commission for denying a visa to Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, calling the action disrespectful to the country.
General Musa had revealed on Thursday during the maiden annual lecture of the National Association of the Institute for Security Studies that he and some members of his team were denied visas to attend an event honoring war veterans in Canada.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Tunji-Ojo expressed concern over the treatment of Nigeria’s highest-ranking military officer by the Canadian authorities.
“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 said.
Tunji-Ojo, whose ministry oversees the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), questioned the rationale behind the decision, adding that diplomatic channels should have been used if there were any concerns about the application.
“I am struggling to find a justification for this action by Canada. Even if there are questions the High Commission needed to ask, there are diplomatic back channels in which that could have been done,” he stated.
He expressed confidence that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would take appropriate diplomatic measures to address the issue and ensure mutual respect between Nigeria and Canada.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were unsuccessful.
Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, Acting Head of Crisis Monitoring & Public Communications at the ministry, did not respond to messages.
Similarly, Oluwademilade Kosemani, a senior public affairs officer at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja, initially promised to release a statement on the matter but later declined.
In a message to Daily Trust, Kosemani stated, “The High Commission of Canada in Nigeria is aware of media reports related to planned travel by senior officials. However, for privacy reasons, we are unable to comment on the status of visa applications of specific individuals.”
