Abuja has denied visa to former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, who was to be a guest at the third graduation of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Sources at the AUN, where Campbell is a member of the governing board, said his visa application was subjected to frustrating delays until it became impossible for him to come to Nigeria for the convocation.
Campbell, who left the country a few years ago after completing his tenure, has been in the news of recent over his critical views on Nigeria and what he described as its fragile political system, including the zoning of political offices, and the Presidential vote last month.
Before the election, Campbell never hid his disdain for the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In one instance, he called Nigeria a failed state which would disintegrate by 2015.
After the poll, adjudged by the international observers as free and fair, Campbell wrote a damning report that it was not devoid of rigging which normally takes place at collation centres
Abuja often dismisses him as a prophet of doom.
Regardless, Damian Agwu, the Director of Public Communications at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, told Daily Independent on Monday Campbell “Did not meet the requirements for an entry visa. If he had met the requirements, he would have been granted a visa.”
President Goodluck Jonathan also on Monday directed a review of Nigeria’s foreign policy to reflect current realities.
He gave the directive at a meeting with the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations, chaired by former Commonwealth Secretary General, Emeka Anyaoku.
After 50 years of independence, he said, it is time to review Nigeria’s foreign policy, in line with modern realities and international developments. . .
Sources at the AUN, where Campbell is a member of the governing board, said his visa application was subjected to frustrating delays until it became impossible for him to come to Nigeria for the convocation.
Campbell, who left the country a few years ago after completing his tenure, has been in the news of recent over his critical views on Nigeria and what he described as its fragile political system, including the zoning of political offices, and the Presidential vote last month.
Before the election, Campbell never hid his disdain for the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In one instance, he called Nigeria a failed state which would disintegrate by 2015.
After the poll, adjudged by the international observers as free and fair, Campbell wrote a damning report that it was not devoid of rigging which normally takes place at collation centres
Abuja often dismisses him as a prophet of doom.
Regardless, Damian Agwu, the Director of Public Communications at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, told Daily Independent on Monday Campbell “Did not meet the requirements for an entry visa. If he had met the requirements, he would have been granted a visa.”
President Goodluck Jonathan also on Monday directed a review of Nigeria’s foreign policy to reflect current realities.
He gave the directive at a meeting with the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations, chaired by former Commonwealth Secretary General, Emeka Anyaoku.
After 50 years of independence, he said, it is time to review Nigeria’s foreign policy, in line with modern realities and international developments. . .
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