The federal government should offer unreserved apology to former United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell, for denying him visa over “his candid opinion about the country.”
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) made the call yesterday in a statement issued at the weekend by its National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fa-shakin.
The CPC said the apology is necessary “so as to bring about a quick resolution of this infernal impasse.”
Fashakin said: “As a party, we are convinced that the real reason for this show of unreasonableness is not unconnected with Mr John Campbell’s critical commentaries in recent times on the shenanigans of this PDP-led Federal Government.”
“Undoubtedly, Mr. Campbell is unjustifiably being persecuted for his candid opinion about the country, more so that Nigeria’s Ambassador to US, Professor Ibidapo Adebowale Adefuye had threatened that his visa would not be reviewed when expired. As stakeholders in the Nigerian enterprise, we are appalled by this descent to infantile and thuggish diplomacy because the Nigerian nation is projected in bad light, among the comity of nations, by this latest action of the Federal Government.”
“It is our considered opinion that if the Nigerian government has strong aversion to Mr. Campbell’s recent communication on Nigeria, there are available diplomatic channels to ventilate such grievance. We insist that this government’s action is faux pas and has, inexorably, enhanced Mr. Campbell’s diplomatic status rather than vitiating it.”
“In his inimitable brutally audacious style, Mr. Campbell had also written about the flawed 2007 elections and pre-election polling project thus: ‘Shortly before the 2007 elections, a government cabinet minister came to see me with polling results that ostensibly showed overwhelming support for the governing People’s Democratic Party. In hindsight, the Obasanjo government’s sharing of poll results with the diplomatic community looks like it was part of an orchestrated campaign to try and give credibility to the electoral outcomes despite the massive PDP rigging of the elections.”
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) made the call yesterday in a statement issued at the weekend by its National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fa-shakin.
The CPC said the apology is necessary “so as to bring about a quick resolution of this infernal impasse.”
Fashakin said: “As a party, we are convinced that the real reason for this show of unreasonableness is not unconnected with Mr John Campbell’s critical commentaries in recent times on the shenanigans of this PDP-led Federal Government.”
“Undoubtedly, Mr. Campbell is unjustifiably being persecuted for his candid opinion about the country, more so that Nigeria’s Ambassador to US, Professor Ibidapo Adebowale Adefuye had threatened that his visa would not be reviewed when expired. As stakeholders in the Nigerian enterprise, we are appalled by this descent to infantile and thuggish diplomacy because the Nigerian nation is projected in bad light, among the comity of nations, by this latest action of the Federal Government.”
“It is our considered opinion that if the Nigerian government has strong aversion to Mr. Campbell’s recent communication on Nigeria, there are available diplomatic channels to ventilate such grievance. We insist that this government’s action is faux pas and has, inexorably, enhanced Mr. Campbell’s diplomatic status rather than vitiating it.”
“In his inimitable brutally audacious style, Mr. Campbell had also written about the flawed 2007 elections and pre-election polling project thus: ‘Shortly before the 2007 elections, a government cabinet minister came to see me with polling results that ostensibly showed overwhelming support for the governing People’s Democratic Party. In hindsight, the Obasanjo government’s sharing of poll results with the diplomatic community looks like it was part of an orchestrated campaign to try and give credibility to the electoral outcomes despite the massive PDP rigging of the elections.”
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