Visa Restrictions: APC, PDP trade blame

Following the travel restrictions imposed on Nigerians by the government of United State, the two major political parties in Nigeria, APC and PDP again engaged in a blame game over difficulties placed on Nigerians.

Buhari Media Organisation blamed the  Peoples Democratic Party government for the visa restrictions.

In a statement  by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the group said rather than  celebrate the ban, Atiku should be remorseful that his party was responsible for this inconvenience caused Nigerians.

The group  said, “The United States visa restriction is symbolic – to show security concerns over two issues. One is the printing of the Nigerian passport, and the other is the storage of data and other vital information on the holders of the passport.

“Now, these are crucial matters in a world where information sharing is of the utmost essence in the face of security challenges everywhere. The Nigerian passport was being printed by a company in Malaysia before the PDP gave it out to an Irish company.”

The BMO said the PDP government signed a ‘double-faced contract’,  which was renewed just two weeks before losing  the Presidency to the All Progressives Congress in  2015.

The statement  said, “In one breath, the contract was to last for four years, but in another breath, it was agreed that the said contract would not lapse until the company has printed 10 million copies of the travel document.

“As we speak, only three million copies of the Nigerian passport has been printed by this company. This and the huge volume of vital information being held by this Irish company has created a huge security nightmare for concerned security agencies.”

According to the group, the International Criminal Police Organisation  reported that Nigeria was not sharing information.

It further argued that in an effort to redress the situation, Buhari directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that the passport  was printed   by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation.

“Unfortunately, this directive could not be executed because of legal issues raised by the Irish company contracted by the PDP government,” BMO said.

But the PDP said the Presidency and the APC  should be held responsible for the US action.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said visa restriction “is another huge misfortune brought by the Buhari administration  and the APC to Nigeria.”

He lamented that the travel ban would  deny Nigerians many  opportunities.

Ologbondiyan said, “More depressing is that the APC and the Buhari administration  have been reversing diplomatic gains achieved by previous administrations while gradually pitting our nation against other countries  with its poor record on security, corruption and human right issues.

“Only recently, our nation was rated as the third country with the highest level of terrorism in 2019 after Iran and Afghanistan in the Global Terrorism Index rating by the Institute for Economics and Peace.”

He added, “This is in addition to damning reports by reputable organisations including Amnesty International, Transparency International, European Union and   United States Department of State, which in various independent reports, raised grave issues of escalated corruption, violation of human rights, disregard  for the  rule of law, abuse of processes, election rigging and poor handling of security issues under the APC.”