The chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has debunked reports that the commission is deporting Biafra agitators in the diaspora for persecution.
According to the NIDCOM chairman, the commission is for all citizens of the country irrespective of their tribes or religious inclination and as such reports of deporting members of the Biafrans are false and mischievious.
Naija News understands that Dabiri-Erewa’s reaction follows an allegation by the leader of the proscribed Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, Uchenna Madu that the federal government is using the commission to harrass it members, forcefully deporting them to Nigeria.
Madu in the statement titled “Security agents killing our members secretly” alleged that NIDCOM is being used to crack down its pro-Biafra groups’ leaders in the diaspora and forcefully deport persecuted Biafrans.
Reacting to the MASSOB leader’s claim, Dabiri-Erewa in a statement by the spokesperson of NIDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun said the ”fabricated” stories by the group are false, mischievous and at best another tales by moonlight narrative. NIDCOM as we know has no such powers nor has such agents of harassment both in Nigeria and in the foreign lands.”
The statement added, “In international Relations, the process of deportation is a country to country decision which lies with the country foreign policy within the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It must be pointed out that most countries are clamping down on irregular immigrants irrespective of their faith, ethnic or nationalities. Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa has consistently been appealing to Nigerians to obey laws of the countries they reside and be good ambassadors of Nigeria.
“So, the allegation that “the Federal Government is secretly working with some agents of foreign countries to arrest our members in diaspora and deport them to Nigeria for persecution and prosecution”, is a figment of the group imagination.”
NIDCOM reiterated that the Commission is for all Nigerians irrespective of their tribes or religious inclinations as enshrined in the Act of the Parliament setting up the commission.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved the extension of the six months mandate of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, due to expire on Friday, September 4, to the end of December.
