The chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa has stated that the commission under her watch is not for the deportation of Biafrans.
This was stated by Dabiri-Erewa while reacting to a statement released by the leader of the proscribed Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Uchenna Madu.
The leader of MASSOB had 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 allegation, Dabiri-Erewa in a statement released
by the spokesperson of NIDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun on Friday September 4, said the ”fabricated” stories by the ”discredited group are false, mischievous and at best another tales by moonlight narrative.”
Part of the statement reads:
”NIDCOM as we know has no such powers nor has such agents of harassment both in Nigeria and in the foreign lands.
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.”
She added 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.
