FG, address this Egypt horror story

A Nigerian cleric, Dr Israel  Kristilere,  who is also the President of the Nigerian Christian Tourism Practitioners Association, narrated his horrendous experience in the hands of the police and airport officials at the Cairo International  Airport recently. He had embarked on a holy pilgrimage to Aman in company of 27 other pilgrims and they had flown Egypt Airline from Lagos to Cairo. The pilgrims were destined for Aman but the Egyptian airline they flew in had a four-hour stopover in Cairo. Everything seemed to be going well until they were to board another plane to Aman from Cairo when Nigerian citizens were isolated and asked to wait while citizens of other countries were boarding the plane. However, upon the intervention of Kristilere, the team lead of the pilgrims, the Nigerians were subsequently attended to. But then, Kristilere was reportedly whisked away from the other Nigerians to the office of the airport police chief where his real ordeal began. He was accused of sexually assaulting a lady he had never met before. And when he denied ever meeting the lady, let alone violating her, the officials reportedly said they usually took the words of female victims as the gospel truth with or without evidence! He was asked to apologise to the lady and sign a settlement agreement scripted in Arabic.

And when he refused to sign and insisted that the agreement be written in English so he could read and understand what he was about to sign off on, they were reportedly angry and threatened him with a missed flight and jail term. The official reportedly did several other things that gave them out as simply being on a devious mission to set Kristilere up. He was, however, lucky that he was not travelling alone: the other pilgrims he was leading to Aman had reportedly protested and refused to board the plane unless he was released. This news got to his captors and traducers from the airline officials and they subsequently released him.  His release unscathed to continue his journey, though welcome, confirmed that the security officials had nothing on him; they just wanted to put him in trouble for no reason. For there was no way they could have let him off the hook if indeed he had committed sexual assault.

While many were still wondering why Kristilere could be treated so shabbily by people he never knew,  more Nigerians started coming forward to narrate their own experiences and the sordid treatments they received from the Cairo Airport officials. It then became clear that the unwarranted animosity was against Nigerians, not just Kristilere. The sordid tales of maltreatment of Nigerians at the Cairo Airport speaks to the level of respect or otherwise that Egypt has for the government and people of Nigeria and that leaves a sour taste in the mouth against the backdrop of the fact that Egypt is a fellow African country. It is bad enough that airports officials in Europe, America and Asia have a penchant for setting  Nigerians apart for thorough checks, but it is worse and really disturbing that Nigerians are receiving the same treatment, as it were,  from a country that is ordinarily regarded as friendly and in the continent of Africa.

Kristilere’s story has all the trappings of conspiracy against Nigerians, and that is most unfortunate, especially in a continent where the international community expects Nigeria to play a leading role. This is not the first time that officials of government in some co-African countries have treated Nigerian citizens shabbily. Why would Nigerians be isolated and asked to wait while citizens of other countries boarded the plane first at the Cairo International Airport? It shows clearly that Nigerians are not respected and not a few have put the blame for this sordid state of affairs at the doorstep of the government. The government’s attitude towards its citizens is shabby and it is believed that other people tend to treat Nigerians the way their government treats them.

As earlier observed, if the Nigerian in this story had committed rape, he would not have been let go just because Nigerians refused to board the plane. Apparently, the cleric did not do anything wrong but Cairo airport officials just decided to mess with him perhaps because they knew no consequences would attend their deplorable action by way of protest from the victim’s government. Or, they simply could not be bothered. Whichever the case is, it is a grave sign of disdain for Nigeria and its people. It is evident that Nigeria is the giant of Africa only in name as it hardly leverages its size to get things done and earn the respect of other countries on the continent. Foreign countries violate bilateral agreements at will because the government has not presented itself as a serious entity. But it has reached a point where it has to put its feet down and insist on fair treatment of Nigerians wherever they are across the globe. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a duty to rejig and tweak the country’s diplomacy strategies with a view to getting optimum benefits in terms of respect for the country and its people in its relations with the rest of the world. Currently, Nigeria and Nigerians are very low in the esteem of many countries in the world, including Africa. This situation cannot and should not be allowed to continue. For instance, even the governments of countries which are sworn enemies of the United States dare not treat American citizens shabbily, let alone countries it considers friendly,  because they know that such treatment will be attended by grave consequences.

It should be mentioned, too, that Nigerian citizens have a significant role to play in ensuring that they are treated nicely wherever they are on the globe. And that is by ensuring that they operate strictly within the ambit of the law within and outside Nigeria. That way, the Nigerian State will be in a better position to rise up in their defence and protection anytime unscrupulous foreign officials maltreat them.  It is not unlikely that many Nigerians are in foreign jails for committing no offence known to law, because not everyone can be as lucky as Dr Israel Kristilere at the Cairo International Airport. Therefore, the job of restoring the dignity and respect of Nigeria and Nigerians across the globe is an urgent assignment that must be taken seriously by all stakeholders, with the government playing the lead role. Meanwhile, we urge the Federal Government to look into this clear case of mistreatment of its citizens in Egypt at a diplomatic level and latch onto the incident to make a strong statement. The objective is not just to seek redress for the unwarranted humiliation of Kristilere but also to obviate a recurrence of such unfair treatment of Nigerians in foreign lands, going forward.

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