Monday, February 17, 2025 - Senator Ali Ndume has reacted to recent reports of the Canadian Embassy denying the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa and some military chiefs visas.
Last week, Gen Musa revealed that both he and several senior military
officers were denied visas to attend a Canadian event honouring war veteran.
While some members of the delegation received their visas, others including
Musa were left stranded after their applications were rejected.
The report sparked outrage from some Nigerians including the National
Security Adviser NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, who asked the Canadian embassy to ‘’Go to
hell.'' However, former National Human Rights Commission Chairman, Chidi
Odinkalu slammed the Senior Military officers and Nuhu Ribadu stating that
the CDS had a delegation of 70 persons under him for Canada visas.
‘’ What were 70
officers going to do at the Winters Games in Canada? he asked
Reacting to the report, Ndume who was a guest on Channels TV on Sunday
night, February 16, said the refusal was indeed disrespectful but that
Nigerians should also learn to respect themselves.
‘’There is no doubt that that is a kind of disrespect to Nigeria but you have to respect yourself first. I can't imagine it. How can the CDS of Nigeria, a country that is known and most populous and ranked top and we have been contributing to international engagement, be denied visa, what they wanted to do was to go and attend an event. I can understand why the NSA was very angry but for me, like I said, let's be Nigerians. I don't go anywhere and I am a Senator for the past 20 years. I don't need to go anywhere. Nigeria is my country. We have everything. We don't need to embarrass ourselves.''
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