Visa Ban: Kogi Writes U.S. Ambassador, Rejects ‘Unwarranted Interference In Our Political Process’

The Governor Yahaya Bello-led Kogi State government has written to the United States Ambassador to Nigeria over the country’s recent visa ban on politicians believed to have undermined the 2019 governorship election in Kogi.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had announced on Monday that the country had banned persons involved in electoral fraud in the 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, as well as those whose actions are capable of undermining the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship polls.

Although the U.S. did not mention the politicians sanctioned, the Secretary to the Kogi State Government, Folashade Ayoade, wrote a protest letter to the U.S Ambassador to reject the mention of Kogi among states where elections were undermined.

Ayoade said the impression given in Pompeo’s statement was “unacceptable”, adding that the statement represents “interference in our political and social processes.”

She said, “Please note that for the purposes of this protest letter we are only interested in the citations to the extent that they are referable to Kogi state and her citizens.

“For the most part, we concede that elections in Nigeria are complex affairs which will continue to require improvements for the foreseeable future.

“The 2019 Kogi state gubernatorial election was also not without its challenges. However, it is also crystal clear from critical and composite analyses of the records (official, media, observers, etc) of the November 16, 2020 polls that regrettable incidents were limited to a few polling units, while the overwhelmingly larger portions of the ballot were free, fair and credible.

“Further, and in line with Nigerian law, the few political parties and individuals who alleged widespread electoral malpractices had free rein to contest the outcome in court. They vigorously litigated their claims over a grueling 9-month period, through a 3-step hierarchy of courts, to the inescapable conclusion at the Supreme Court of Nigeria that the said elections satisfactorily complied with the Nigerian constitution and the electoral act.

“Our concern right now is not the prerogative of the United States of America to impose entry restrictions on anyone, for any or no reason at all, which prerogative remains unfettered, but the room for atrocious misinformation which the timing of your Press Statement and the mention of the Kogi elections therein has created in our state.

“For the February and March 2019 General elections, your advisory came out in July 2019, long before the supreme court delivered her judgments in the petitions against those elections, including challenges to President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection.

“The presumption is that in spite of your intervention, the supreme court still discovered no merit in the petitions and dismissed them accordingly.

“We find this unacceptable, and we protest your presumption. The least you could have done, if indeed this is about democracy and human rights as claimed, is create room, no matter how slim, for fair hearing,” she said.

Ayoade added that, “As it is now, partisan speculation as to who is indicted, who is not and for what, has become cudgels, furiously swung in the media space by all comers. Your action has therefore added abundant grist to the rumour mills and electrified the merchants of fake news.

“Let it be noted that we are not challenging your visa bans in any way, whoever they may affect and for how long, but we do register the strongest protest possible as a State to the collateral and unwarranted interference in our political and social processes which it represents.”