A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) have charged the United States government to punish Nigerian government officials responsible for the negligence that led to the placement of visa restriction on the country rather than the ordinary Nigerian immigrants.
This was just as the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) asked Nigerians to hold the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency responsible for the negative impacts of the travel ban.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 election said the ban did not take into consideration the pro-American sentiment of Nigerians.
He said even though the current government in the country has its deficiencies and faults, ordinary Nigerians ought not to be punished for them.
“While I understand the reasons given by the Donald Trump administration (the failure of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to share information and to address issues of terrorism), the ban does not take into account the pro-American sentiments of the Nigerian public and the solidarity previous Nigerian administrations have had with the United States.
“I urge the government of President Trump to consider the history of US-Nigerian relationship. Nigeria was one of the few African nations that joined the US-led coalition during Operation Desert Storm in 1990-1991, when the United States championed the liberation of Kuwait.
“The Trump administration may also consider the pivotal role Nigeria, in partnership with the US, played in bringing peace to Liberia, an American sphere of influence, that now enjoys democracy because Nigerian blood and money paved the way for peace in that nation.
“Nigeria has also consistently voted in support of the United States and its allies at the United Nations and other multi-lateral world bodies. This is even as we are perhaps the biggest trading partner that the United States has in Africa, even where we had alternatives.
“Nigerians love the United States and have been a major force for the positive development of that great nation: 77 per cent of all black doctors in the United States are Nigerians. Nigerians are also the most educated immigrant community in America. Surely, the US stands to benefit if it allows open borders with a country like Nigeria that is able to provide skilled, hardworking and dedicated personnel in a two-way traffic,” Atiku said.
PDP, in a statement by Kola Ologbodiyan, its national spokesperson, said the sanction was another misfortune brought upon the country by the Buhari government and the All Progressives Congress (APC), “in addition to the escalated bloodletting and human rights violations under their watch.”
The party lamented that the restriction would have consequences on economic, educational and healthcare opportunities and hurt family and social ties and further pressure the country’s economy.
“Our party is worried that our nation that became a global destination for investment under the PDP government is now being pushed back to a pariah status under the incompetent and divisive APC.
“Reports from other members of the international community, including credible international organisations, have continued to raise concerns on security and human rights issues under the Buhari administration.
“Only recently, our nation was rated as 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 (IEP).
“The APC administration has failed to rejig its security high command despite the calls by Nigerians, in the face of worsening security challenges and mass killings in our country under the current administration,” PDP said.
In its own reaction, CUPP, in a statement by its national spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, in Abuja, said the development was one of the signs that the All Progressives Congress government is bent on running this country aground.
“Adding to judicial/legislative rascality and ethnic cleansing that we have been living with is this international ostracisation. All of these and more are consequences of Buhari’s incurable incompetence,” the statement said.
CUPP, therefore, called on President Buhari to resign before it is too late to save the country.