NiDCOM dismisses MASSOB’s allegations as ‘tales by moonlight’

The chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, on Friday dismissed insinuations that the commission was working with foreign governments to deport people of South East extraction abroad.

She was reacting to a statement credited to the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) on the alleged persecution of pro-Biafra individuals and groups in foreign lands.

The MASSOB Leader, Uchenna Madu, had in a statement alleged that NiDCOM was being used to crack down on the group’s leaders in the diaspora.

Dabiri-Erewa, who reacted to the MASSOB leader’s claim via a statement issued by the commission’s spokesman, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, described the claim as “false, mischievous and another tales by moonlight narrative.”

She added that the commission was for all Nigerians irrespective of their tribes or religious inclinations.

The statement read: ”NIDCOM, as we know, has no such powers nor has such agents of harassment both in Nigeria and in the foreign lands.

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“In International Relations, the process of deportation is a country to country decision which lies with the country foreign policy within the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It must be pointed out that most countries are clamping down on irregular immigrants irrespective of their faith, ethnic or nationalities.

“Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa has consistently been appealing to Nigerians to obey laws of the countries they reside and be good ambassadors of Nigeria.

“So, the allegation ‘that the Federal Government is secretly working with some agents of foreign countries to arrest our members in Diaspora and deport them to Nigeria for persecution and prosecution’ is a figment of the group imagination.”

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