Reactions Trail US Visa Restriction

The Federal Government  has reacted to an announcement by the United States Department of State, that it will be issuing visa restrictions against individuals who infringed on the democratic process in the November 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections. In a statement by the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye, the Federal Government stated that, “It would be considered disrespectful for the sovereignty of Nigeria for any outside authority to sit in judgment over the conduct of its citizens and apply measures such as visa restriction, unilaterally.” The Nigerian Government urged its international partners to provide evidence of observed electoral misconduct to relevant agencies instead, and allow extant laws to take their course. The Federal Government’s claim that there are “ample provisions in our laws to sanction violators and perpetrators of electoral violence and fraud” is  at best, a ruse, as several elections have come and gone with very few instances of prosecution of electoral offenders. It will be recalled that the Kogi State governorship election witnessed unprecedented levels of violence that went unabated and ten months later, no single person has been convicted for the acts of violence that disrupted the electoral process. This situation reiterates the need for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to duly deal with these issues, as the electoral management body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the requisite capacity to do so.