By Uzoma Ahamefule
“I have declared war already today, … this is
too much and unacceptable” NANCA president
“The Nigerian ambassador has neglected the Nigerians” NANCA vice president
All is not well between Nigerians in Austria and their embassy, and when
a kingdom is divided against itself, the center cannot hold.
The officials of the umbrella body of Nigerians in Austria, “National
Association of Nigerian Community Austria, (NANCA)” have not hidden
this unhappy and uncomfortable state of things as they have used this medium to
cry to the federal government of Nigeria to help them un-code the unprecedented
scenario that has badly dented their official relationship with the embassy and
made them to live like cat and mouse with their ambassador, Her Excellency,
Mrs. Maria Oyeyinka Laose. They are bitter as they have also claimed that the
ambassador had unbelievably for the first time in the history of NANCA denied
them their birth right when she had not extended the invitation of the Nigerian
52nd independence celebration to them. Irrespective of any
circumstance, it is a deed they have considered a grievous error and cannot
fathom out why.
They equally have accused the ambassador of not showing any
interest towards the complaints of their plights as she had only been too busy
signing the deportations of people without proper investigation. In a similar
development, they also query the federal government of Nigeria what they have
done wrong that has made the government to abandon them to be discriminated and
maltreated so badly by the authority of their host country without any
resistance or protest from Nigeria.
When I went to the embassy to get the other side of the story on the
issues raised, sadly and disappointingly all what I got were insults from a
rude receptionist of Asian origin who is also well known by many Nigerians for
his impatience, arrogance and lack of respect when talking to Nigerians whether
on phone or at the embassy. Sadly, according to information reaching me from
impeccable sources this receptionist derives the impetus to let Nigerians down
the way he does of which I have been his victim two times, because of the
protection he feels he enjoys from the connection that brought him to the
embassy and his color, a development that no Nigerian ambassador unfortunately
seemed to have been able to deal with.
It would be recalled that I had earlier this year written an article
titled “1,000 Planned Deportations of Nigerians from Austria, Nigerian
Communities Boiling” which elaborated on the ‘I don’t care’ attitude of the
Nigerian embassy in deporting people. The situation has not changed as
deportations of people to Nigeria continued still without contact or
proper identification of their nationalities by the embassy. Some of
the people they could claim they identified went through charade and shameful
predetermined interviews conducted outside the premises of the
Nigerian embassy. A trend that is very peculiar to some African embassies
around Europe.
With the look of things, the situation of the unpleasant experiences of
many deportees without the sincere opportunity to defend themselves or face the
scrutiny of many issues like their identities before the Nigerian embassy
officials will unfortunately not change at least for now. Information around
Nigerian communities in Vienna has it that the ambassador, Her Excellency, Mrs.
Maria Oyeyinka Laose, is carefully trying to avoid the politics and
pressure from certain quarters and to evade the kind of trouble the former
ambassador to Austria, Dr Jerry Ugokwe, had ran into that had brought squalor
and palace coup that had contributed to his untimely withdrawal as ambassador
from Austria. Available records showed that the sin of Dr. Jerry Ugokwe had
been that he had sincerely and reasonably maintained that all the rights
of asylum seekers regarding their deportations as enshrined in the Geneva
Convention had to be respected especially with his blunt insistence that those
cases still in court had to be exhausted and all protocols adhered to before he
could sign their deportations. A commendable decision that had for unknown
reasons to many Nigerians in Austria triggered the anger of the then officials
of the Foreign Affairs Ministry under the leadership of Chief Ojo Maduekwe who
is currently the Nigerian ambassador to Canada, to order three wise men from
Abuja without regards to protocols to Austria and they had disgracefully and
painfully done the work of the ambassador by cruelly signing thousands open
deportation papers of Nigerians without expiry dates that had led to
indiscriminate and massive deportations of people at that time.
In a move that may look smart but shallow to those close to these
vulnerable victims, mainly asylum seekers, investigation centered on some
of the deportees revealing that, if forty people are presented to the embassy
for deportation, the ambassador usually signs the
deportations of about twenty of the people in order to avoid
pressure from one party while leaving about twenty other people also
as evidence of defense to any question that may come from whomever it
may concern that they did their job well, when in the actual sense the whole
processes before their decisions had been rather unprofessional and
shabby. Many Nigerians in Austria have chorused that the impression they have
is that, as long as the powers that maybe are happy with the official conducts
of the embassy officers and their places of work secured, the pains of ordinary
Nigerians and their complaints are secondary and very much irrelevant.
Never in the history has NANCA had it so bad with the Nigerian embassy
and their ambassador like they are having things now with the current
ambassador. The relationship has gone so sour and bitter. The NANCA
version of the Nigerian independence celebration which took place on 12th
October, 2012 in Vienna where many distinguished Nigerians like the
first Nigerian Olympic medalist in Tokyo 1964, Mr. Nojim Maiyegun,
Mr. Georgr Alaba, father of the millionaire Austrian National team star, David
Alaba, Dr. Smart Eze, ex-Biafran soldier and host of others that included
NGO’s were recognized and honored with awards afforded many Nigerians
the opportunity to express their anger and surprise over the ambassador’s
action to celebrate the Nigerian independence without Nigerians when they spoke
to me.
Some of the questions on their lips were: Why did their ambassador
neglect them on that special day for Nigeria? Why did she take their
independence party to somebody’s gallery that could also not comfortably
contain 40 people? Was there any deal before this special favor to advertise
somebody’s business? How much would the Nigerian embassy claim that they spent
in that gathering in the name of their independence party when they only wined
and dined with their close friends? Is the ambassador here to represent her
personal interests alone without regards to the feelings and opinions of many
Nigerians in Austria? As many whys reigned the air, one thing was obvious, the
relationship is stained, trust lost and there seems to be no door open to
bridge this widening dangerous gap unless through the intervention of
a higher authority. In consequence, Nigerians in Austria through the officials
of NANCA sensing the sad effect this situation would have if not urgently
checked, have cried to President Goodluck Jonathan and Foreign
Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru to come to their rescue as the
NANCA President Engr. Oluyemi Ogundele said that he had “declared
war” and threatened to organize a protest to occupy the Nigerian embassy.
Here are the things some of the NANCA executives and few Nigerians
had to say about the whole brouhaha:
General Secretary NANCA, Mag. Leonard Kazie
Obiagwu: “In the history of NANCA in Austria, this is the first time NANCA
and Nigerians at large were not invited to the Nigeria independence
celebration. It has not been the nature and the culture between Nigerians or
NANCA and the reason we were not told and we do not feel good about it. The
last celebration under her she sent a very few invitations and the celebration
was done during working hours which was unusual and we were also very sad about
it. The relationship we enjoyed with the embassy is no longer what it used to
be as it looks collapsed. We do not know whether they are actually here to
represent us and we are not happy about the whole thing. Information reaching
us said that the Nigerian independence celebration 2012 was for them and their
friends and not for the purpose.
“My message to Nigerians is that, there is power in unity and NANCA is
for all of us and if we should rally round NANCA and make it great, we will
have a voice both home and abroad.”
Vice Chairman NANCA, “Ozo Muonyiroha” of
Unube, Louis Asuzu: “We were not informed and were not
invited to the Nigerian independence celebration party organized by the
embassy and I think that it is a very bad and a very wrong thing to do. I
believe strongly that they are moving in a very wrong direction.
“The Nigerian ambassador has neglected the Nigerian association here in
Austria and has neglected Nigerians, she is not interested in whatever opinion
we have, she has never bothered about us, she is only interested in signing the
TC’s (traveling certificates-deportation papers) and we really don’t know why.
My message to the ambassador is that she should come down and listen to the Nigerian
community here, we are all human beings. We know that she will not be staying
here for a very long time, maybe she is doing it probably as a response to the
reactions from the Austrians. But she should also understand that we are living
here for a long time and we know the Austrians and the way they act, she is not
going to get what she thinks she will get. First of all she has to listen to us
because it is very important that she listens to what we have to say and it is
also very important that she works with us because a very old woman has more
broken plates than the younger one because it has been long she started
cooking. […] She should understand that she is a career diplomat and not a
politician because if she is a politician it is a different thing. We had a
politician like Dr. Jerry Ugokwe who was here, he did fantastically well and we
know why he was taken out because people like her back sided to
work against him. So, we know why and we have the documents, we are not
afraid to give out the documents or to say why he was taken away. “.
A Nigerian guest at the party: “I
am Tajudeen Bello, a Nigerian, and I have been living here for
the past 32 years and I work for United Nation Industrial Development
Organization. I am very happy that we are celebrating our independence and I
wish Nigeria a happy birthday.”
When asked to comment on the controversy trailing the embassy
version of the Nigerian independent celebration, he said, “I was invited
officially by the embassy and my understanding of what happened there and the
reason the venue was chosen was because a Nigerian was exhibiting his arts and
they wanted to encourage him. We all have different opinions about things that
transferred there but I did not see it negative because the person who was exhibiting
his art is also a Nigerian. I believe that it was good for us in Austria
because Nigeria has been associated with negative things and this is something
positive, a Nigerian artist showing his art to the Austrian world. So I did not
feel that it’s worthy criticizing it. We should all work together, if people
have grudges against the ambassador they should ask for a meeting and tell her
what they are not happy about but I do not think that that action was bad.”
Social welfare of NANCA, Edwin Nwaka: “Nigeria did
not celebrate the independence here in Austria because embassy officials only
went to a man who was opening a gallery and the man was the one that invited
people. Nobody is happy the way the ambassador is treating Nigerians because
the embassy is supposed to care for all Nigerians in Austria. She does not care
and we appeal to the federal government to take care and seriously
look into this matter before it gets out of hand.”
Financial secretary NANCA, Chukwuka Emmanuel: “Everybody
has got his own view but for me I think that Nigeria celebrated independence
here in Austria in a low key, but I do not see anything we are
celebrating actually. We are trying to use this medium (NANCA) to bring
Nigerians together.
“For the Nigerian embassy not to invite Nigerians to the Nigerian
independence celebration, honestly I am not happy as a Nigerian because without
Nigerians there would not be an embassy here. The embassy should recognize us.
[…] What is happening between NANCA and the embassy now I do not see it to be a
problem but I rather call it a challenge.”
Unanimous contributor: “Whether
the embassy celebrated in low key or high key, why did the ambassador not
invite at least the executives of the ethnic groups? May God have mercy on this
country!” Many like him have lost hope and fate at the embassy.
NANCA Presidednt, Engr. Oluyemi Ogundele: “We ask
for one thing, that is, they should treat us (here in Austria) equally like any
other citizen of any other country but they refused. When the Nigerian
government says that a document is genuine […] with the official stamps of
the Foreign Ministry the Austrian authority here does not recognize that until
the Austrian embassy in Nigeria asks the person involved to pay around N150,
000 (around €800) for a local lawyer to go and verify such document.
“We wrote a simple letter to the Minister and in order to make sure that
it got to him we sent it through the embassy and up till today no single
comment about it. We have been pushed to the wall and we are law abiding citizens here
and for more than 22 years now that I have been living in this country we
never demonstrated once but this time we are going to change. Since they
do not want to reply to our letter maybe they will react to our action because
action is better than letter.
“I have declared war already today and have told them that this is too
much and unacceptable. We have been discriminated and treated badly […] and for
the authority everything that came from Nigeria is counterfeit and our
government is looking and they are allowing us to be exploited. For this
issue, I went to the National Assembly asking them to help us and beg the
presidency. Nigerians are complaining that they are being maltreated and on
some issues Nigerians will be treated separately and other countries
separately; what have we done wrong? And if our government does not defend us;
who is going to defend us?
“For the celebration of the 52nd Nigerian independence
day organized by the embassy we were not part of it, we were not invited and we
were not in support of it. The owner of the gallery himself invited me and I
only went there to honor him and left after about five minutes because I was
not happy since all Nigerians were supposed to celebrate. The gallery is so
small that not even up to fifty people can go inside and how many Nigerians do
we have here? Last year was the same thing and this year the same thing again.
The ambassador may not be here next year and it means during her time no
interaction.”
United we stand and divided we fall. I join many concerned Nigerians to
appeal to the federal government of Nigeria to please look into the issues
raised hereof by these honorable Nigerians. Every reasonable government cannot
just wave grievous allegations such as the ones stated above. Irrespective of
different views we may have, I also appeal to Her Excellency to play the mother
role to all as the ambassador of this great country in Austria and also to
accept good criticisms as part of her status and call NANCA officials to a
round table discussion. And because it takes two to tango, NANCA officials
should equally understand that Her Excellency, Mrs.
Maria Oyeyinka Laose is the ambassador and accord her the due
respect and recognition that goes with her profile and work together in order
to achieve great results in most of the cases they have complained here.
May God bless Nigeria my father land and bless Austria my adopted
country.
Uzoma Ahamefule, a concerned patriotic citizen writes from Vienna,
Austria
No comments:
Post a Comment