Why Four APC Governors Got US Visa Ban

By Emmanuel Aziken

The ten high profile Nigerians slapped with United States visa sanctions are the first in what could be an escalating wave of sanctions directed against Nigeria’s political class by the United States.

The visa sanction according to GreenWhiteGreen sources follows the frustration of the United States in pushing the Nigerian government officials to good democratic behaviour.

All but two of the ten slapped with the initial visa ban are high profile officials of the All Progressives Congress, APC while the other two were electoral officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

A source revealed that a high-profile official of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP would be in the next list of visa ban which would then cover persons sanctioned for alleged corrupt acts.

Meanwhile, GWG has gathered specific reasons why the first ten officials were banned.

One Northwest governor known to be a very close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari was banned for what the diplomatic source said as hate speech. The official was known to have railed against foreign intervention ahead of the last General Election with a warning that they would be returned to their countries as dead bodies.

A source said the United States found the utterance by the cerebral politician very offensive.

The second governor from the Northwest who got to national limelight after he was filmed receiving bribe was banned on account of his activities in manipulating the elections in his state. It was in that respect that his deputy and a commissioner who served under him were similarly sanctioned.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state was also banned specifically for the role he played in the controversial election that saw the governor coming back from the dead (electorally) to win the election.

The only North-Central governor in the list of four governors was not banned for his well reported failure in paying salaries to his state’s civil servants including his deputy who is politically estranged from him. The diplomatic source did not give the specific reason why the young governor was banned, but ahead of the last General Election his state was enveloped with a kind of intimidation that made it impossible for two former governors of the state to enter to vote.

The Fourth governor banned who happened to be the only governor from the South and is specifically from the Southwest was sanctioned for being a beneficiary to what diplomatic sources described as an electoral heist that saw him come back from a defeat in the governorship election. The otherwise gentle Southwest governor was sanctioned alongside his maverick predecessor who was recently appointed into the Federal Executive Council.

Also banned on account of the supposed electoral heist in the Southwest state was the returning officer in the election.

A former governor from the South-South was also banned for the role he was believed to have promoted during the recent election in his state that led to several losses of lives. The former governor who was himself on the receiving end during the 2015 General Election had vowed to pay back and was reported to have been helped by the army to upstage his successor.

 The former governor who has been nominated for another term in the FEC was banned alongside his political protegee who holds serves as director-general of a juicy coastal Federal Government parastatal.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that more high profile Nigerian politicians including a high profile Peoples Democratic Party, PDP chieftain will be affected in the next wave of visa sanctions to be unveiled by the United States.

The PDP official it was learnt may be sanctioned on account of corruption as the US broadens its watch on the country’s political class to include anti-corruption.

Noting the frustration of the West with the Nigerian authorities, the source said:
“The frustration has gotten up there. These guys are just not listening so, and you tell them they just don’t care so, whatever it is that can be applied will be applied,” the source said.

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG