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- Why We Insisted on Visa Rule for Campbell — Adefuye
Why We Insisted on Visa Rule for Campbell — Adefuye
- By Williams Ekanem
- Published November 14th, 2011
- Washington File
- Unrated
Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Adefuye says he was only insisting on compliance with laid down regulations in the visa imbroglio involving former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell.
In an exclusive interview with BusinessWorld, the Nigerian Ambassador said, “I only insisted on compliance with laid down regulations and refused to bend the rules for John Campbell, if that is an offence, I plead guilty.”
Describing the hitch in the Campbell issue as about the only sour point of his tenure so far, Adefuye said, “ the whole thing about John Campbell is politics. When deputy secretary in charge of Africa asked why Campbell was denied visa, I told him it would be in the interest of all concerned if John Campbell can stay off the murky waters of Nigerian politics.”
Giving a detailed account of what went wrong, Adefuye stated that “Campbell came and said he wanted a visa, I did not actually deny him a visa in all honesty. He is a member of council of the American University in Yola which Atiku owns and he said he was going to attend the council meeting. He said he was to travel on the 11th of May and he submitted his papers on May 5. We demand seven days pre travel information and for goodness sake every country has its own visa application which we comply with, we comply with regulations of other countries when we want to travel, it is only fair that others comply with ours too. So I then said apart from the application been late, it was not complete, he did not include a letter showing that he was been appointed member of council. So I asked him to produce the letter and he did that but by the time the letter came, it was only two days to the meeting. I said from what I can see you cannot make that meeting; if you have any other reason to travel to Nigeria since the other one is no longer tenable, come and tell us and I was already arranging with him to meet with my officers, the man said he was too big to come to the mission.
The next thing I saw in the media was that Nigerian Embassy denies Campbell a visa. Now before I came here, I went to their office to fill my forms. I went there physically with my wife to fill the forms, I was not too big to go there myself. I did not deny him a visa.” According to Adefuye, Campbell is very close to Atiku Abubakar and Atiku was an opponent of President Jonathan.
He added that before the elections, Campbell wrote on his blog that because INEC didn’t keep to zoning formula, Nigeria will not be able to conduct a free , fair and credible election and that the country will explode.
“We did a credible election, US Secretary of State, President Barack Obama, the European Union, International observers all congratulated Jonathan, but Campbell said the elections was not free and fair. Who is he?” Adefuye added.
In an exclusive interview with BusinessWorld, the Nigerian Ambassador said, “I only insisted on compliance with laid down regulations and refused to bend the rules for John Campbell, if that is an offence, I plead guilty.”
Describing the hitch in the Campbell issue as about the only sour point of his tenure so far, Adefuye said, “ the whole thing about John Campbell is politics. When deputy secretary in charge of Africa asked why Campbell was denied visa, I told him it would be in the interest of all concerned if John Campbell can stay off the murky waters of Nigerian politics.”
Giving a detailed account of what went wrong, Adefuye stated that “Campbell came and said he wanted a visa, I did not actually deny him a visa in all honesty. He is a member of council of the American University in Yola which Atiku owns and he said he was going to attend the council meeting. He said he was to travel on the 11th of May and he submitted his papers on May 5. We demand seven days pre travel information and for goodness sake every country has its own visa application which we comply with, we comply with regulations of other countries when we want to travel, it is only fair that others comply with ours too. So I then said apart from the application been late, it was not complete, he did not include a letter showing that he was been appointed member of council. So I asked him to produce the letter and he did that but by the time the letter came, it was only two days to the meeting. I said from what I can see you cannot make that meeting; if you have any other reason to travel to Nigeria since the other one is no longer tenable, come and tell us and I was already arranging with him to meet with my officers, the man said he was too big to come to the mission.
The next thing I saw in the media was that Nigerian Embassy denies Campbell a visa. Now before I came here, I went to their office to fill my forms. I went there physically with my wife to fill the forms, I was not too big to go there myself. I did not deny him a visa.” According to Adefuye, Campbell is very close to Atiku Abubakar and Atiku was an opponent of President Jonathan.
He added that before the elections, Campbell wrote on his blog that because INEC didn’t keep to zoning formula, Nigeria will not be able to conduct a free , fair and credible election and that the country will explode.
“We did a credible election, US Secretary of State, President Barack Obama, the European Union, International observers all congratulated Jonathan, but Campbell said the elections was not free and fair. Who is he?” Adefuye added.
