A former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, over the latter’s veiled visa ban threat. This is as he also said that he would not accept being told how he would talk or address issues pertaining to Nigeria in Nigeria by a ‘British civil servant”.
The UK envoy had while speaking in an interview with Nigeria Info FM on Sunday revealed that 10 people were on its visa ban watchlist. Those on the list, he claimed, were people who allegedly undermined democracy in Nigeria. He also faulted Fani-Kayode, who is the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council’s Director of New Media, on some comments he made recently.
But the loquacious Fani-Kayode reacting to Llewellyn-Jones’ remarks, said he would not accept lessons on decency from a foreigner. In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle on Sunday, the former minister said, “Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago, and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.
“I wonder who the hell he thinks he is. I am not one of those Nigerians that bows, shakes, shivers, and trembles before the British or indeed any other foreigner. And unlike most, I do not need any validation or endorsement from him or his ilk and neither can I be intimidated by his veiled threat of a visa ban. Frankly, I could not care less.
“Neither will we accept lessons in decency, etiquette, what to say, or how to speak from a British civil servant. I advise this Englander to respect himself and remain a silent observer when it comes to the politics of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a nation, we are not a poodle of the British and we came of age 63 years ago.”
