Nigerian politicians that disrupt the 2023 general elections will be banned from entering the United Kingdom, according to British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing.
Laing stated this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State when she met Governor Nyesom Wike.
On her expectations for the election, Laing said, “2023 is not alright. What happens in the elections is very crucial, not just for Nigeria, but Africa to the world. You (Nigeria) are a large democracy.
“It doesn’t have to be a perfect election. There would be problems, but we want it to be better than the last one. We want it to be secure, peaceful, the process should be run well, and you need to get people to register.”
The high commissioner said that she used the opportunity to call on Governor Wike and his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi to work towards peaceful elections in 2023.
“It is essential that there’s a peaceful election in Rivers State. It’s going to be a crucial part of his (Wike) legacy, how the election goes in this state. We’ve been saying the same thing to Amaechi.
“Another thing we will be doing is to remind people that if people do incite violence or act violently, we will be prepared to deny them visas to the UK. We will make that statement clear and say it over again,” the high commissioner said.
In an apparent reference to the two leading political parties – APC and PDP, Laing said she would prefer a situation where the two presidential candidates were younger and had female running mates.
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The two leading candidates in the 2019 election, President Muhammadu Buhari of APC and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of PDP were in their 70s.
“My ideal candidates would be two younger presidential candidates, both with female vice-presidential candidates,” she said.
She expressed sympathy for Nigeria over the numerous challenges confronting the nation.
“I do have some sympathy for Nigeria because if we as UK have one of these problems your country is having today, we will be struggling. Here, you deal with everything, from insurgency to kidnapping, to piracy off the Gulf of Guinea and you don’t have such a large army and police force for a country of this size.
“The only way you turn this thing around is that government has to build the trust of its people, to have the people working with the government to deal with criminality. That’s how successful anti-criminal operations work.
“People willingly report those committing crime, working with police to identify criminals, same with the military on the insurgency situation. It’s only when the community is on the side of the police and security services that they can turn around the situation,” Laing said.
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