The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has condemned the Canadian Embassy’s denial of a visa to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa.
The controversy unfolded when Gen Musa revealed that he and several senior military officers were not granted visa to attend an event in Canada meant to honour war veterans.
While some members of the delegation were granted visas, others were left stranded after their applications were denied.
Musa expressed disappointment, calling the incident a “wake-up call” for Nigeria to strengthen its sovereignty and resist being taken for granted by foreign nations.
Tunji-Ojo, who appeared as 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.
“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 that he was struggling to find justification for the action by Canada, noting that even if there are questions the embassy needed, there were diplomatic back channels in which that could have been done.
He said he was confident the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take the necessary steps to resolve the issue diplomatically and ensure mutual respect between the two nations.