On US visa ban on election-riggers
THE decision of the United States of America to impose visa restrictions on Nigerians it deems as having played nefarious roles in undermining the integrity of the 2019 general elections in Nigeria is heart-warming. The decision was formally announced by the US Mission in Nigeria on Tuesday, July 23, 2019. According to Morgan Ortagus, a spokesperson of the State Department: “These individuals have operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and undermined the democratic principles and human rights”. However, the US law does not permit that the identities of the affected individuals be made public. The implication is that they will find out when they go to the US Embassy for visas. The USA and the United Kingdom had, on the eve of the general elections, January 25, 2019, warned that they would impose visa restrictions and other serious sanctions on election riggers and those promoting violence and impunity. They had sent election monitors, along with the European...