Senator Nazif protests treatment by US Immigration

Action Congress (AC) Senator representing Bauchi North, Sulaiman Nazif says he plans to lodge a protest at the United States Embassy in Abuja following what he called his “unfair and undignified treatment” by the immigration at the Washington - Dulles Airport on Saturday.

Senator Nazif was turned back at the airport and asked to return to London from where he came because, according to the immigration, he “was not admissible to the U.S. You (the Senator) have to go back to Nigeria to obtain another Visa”.

Narrating his ordeal, Senator Nazif revealed that he had a valid American Visa issued on 31 st December, 2008 to expire on March 15 th 2009 by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja. “I did not request to go to America. The coordinator of the transition from one Government to another Government in the Embassy called to inform me of my nomination to go to the U.S. as a guest of their government to witness the inauguration of the new President, Barack Obama and participate in the programme on transition organized by the International Visitors and Leaders Centre of the U.S. State Department..

“I told the programme coordinator that their programme clashed with my participation at the retreat organized at Minna, Niger State for the members of the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Amendment. I therefore requested to have my U.S. trip deferred to a later date”.

Senator Nazif said when he was asked to state his mission to the U.S. at the point of entry; he disclosed to the immigration that he had a deferred session he wished to attend at the International Visitors and Leaders Section of the State Department. He regretted that the immigration did not seem to be impressed with this and was told that since the presidential inauguration and the Visitors Programme were both over, there was no basis for him to enter the United States. He said when they asked him to withdraw his application for the Visa, he declined to do so, on the basis that the U.S. Embassy in Abuja which chose him for the programme processed the Visa request. He however wrote to withdraw the Visa upon the insistence of the U.S. immigration.

Following this disagreement, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) requested the Senator to abandon his plan to enter the U.S., which he politely did and returned to London.

Senator Nazif said he plans to protest his disrespectful treatment by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) upon his return to Nigeria later in the week.