As conversations in Nigeria continue on the reported denial of visas to military officers including the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa, by Canada, Civil society group, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said the office of the chief of defence staff owes Nigerians certain salient clarification on some emerging allegations.
HURIWA in a media statement endorsed by the National coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said there is now a necessity for some cogent clarifications to be made by the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff on the allegations that the event for which the Defence Chief was invited was for a winter invictus game and if this is so, how come the delegation is alleged to be made up of 70 officers to travel for the winter game just as Nigerians would like to know whether the trip was to be funded by Nigeria or Canada.
“Geographically, Nigeria is not in any way affected by winter. Winter as a seasonal weather is absolutely unknown to Nigeria. So Nigerians would like to know if it is true that the Chief of Defence Staff and 70 officers were to attend a winter game in Canada, of what relevance is the game to the Nigerian military wounded war veterans who have lived in Nigeria all their lives and are not conversant with the winter season? These critical clarifications need to be made by the office of Defense Staff to Nigerians in compliance with the freedom of information Act which is a law of the federal Republic of Nigeria.”
HURIWA recalled that the erstwhile Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, had berated Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, and other senior military officers following the denial of their visa applications by the Canadian Embassy.
Odinkalu via the microblogging platform, X formerly on Sunday condemned the outrage expressed by the officers, questioning the rationale behind attending the Invictus Winter Games in Canada while Nigeria continues to struggle with severe security challenges.
Odinkalu also raised concerns about the necessity of sending a delegation of over 70 military officers, to an event unrelated to Nigeria’s security needs. He pointed out that Nigeria, as a tropical West African nation, does not observe winter or participate in winter sports, making the decision to send such a large delegation highly questionable.
Odinkalu further accused Nigeria’s senior cabinet members, led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, of handling the situation in an embarrassing manner. He described the controversy as a failure of governance and called for greater accountability among top officials.
He said,“Senior officials of @NigeriaGov who shd be ashamed of themselves are frothing that Canada denied visas to the #CDS . How does anyone justify a delegation of over 70 officers led by the CDS to #InvictusWinterGames ? When did #Nigeria start doing winter?!
“And why would a delegation with the Chief of @DefenceInfoNG at its head be applying for visas for an official trip behind the back of @NigeriaMFA ? How foolish & irresponsible are we supposed to be?
“Instead of acknowledging a terrible @OwnGoal & apologising, we have a disgraceful line-up of senior cabinet members, led by @NuhuRibadu & including freelancing ministers, making the govt look more stupid. We may be lawless but other countries are not obliged to follow us in that
“Instead of abusing @CanHCNigeria , @NigeriaGov owes them an apology. Additionally, in a proper system there will be an investigation as well as consequences for those who have brought this kind of embarrassment upon the country. These ppl shd stop disgracing themselves.”
HURIWA said the allegations raised by the former Governing council chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria Professor Chidi Odinkalu are very weighty and should therefore warrant that the office of the chief of defence staff come up with basic answers to the interrogatories that have arisen by the emergence of these allegations. HURIWA said letting these humongous allegations go unresolved would be a grave disservice to Nigerians and Nigeria as a Sovereign nation.”
“A major ingredient of the allegations is why a nation that has challenges of insecurity and paucity of funds to sufficiently confront the hydraheaded monster of terrorism and insecurity, be involved in the frivolous expenditure of sending a massive delegation of 70 officers to Canada to participate in a winter game that has no relevance to our weather conditions”.
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