The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has warned that the British government will impose a visa ban preventing any person who incited violence or actually acted violently before, during and after the 2023 election from visiting the United Kingdom.
Laing gave this warning on Thursday while reacting to various complaints by the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) Julius Abure, over the killing of his party’s candidates and officials across the country.
She requested the Labour Party, which has Peter Obi as its presidential candidate, to furnish the commission with a list of persons whom it suspected would use violence, before , during and after the elections to undermine the 2023 electoral process, to enable the British government act accordingly.
Liang said: “If you are aware of anybody who has incited violence or certainly actually acted violently, we have used the visa program in the past and we will use it again to prevent that person from visiting the UK.
“So if you have any credible evidence of individuals that you can identify as having conducted violent operations or inciting violence, please do pass that on to us because we do act upon it and it’s concerning to hear the number of potential attacks on all candidates.”
While noting that the Labour Party’s complaints were very timely, she said: “I think those are the key points I have taken from what you’ve said. We will raise it with the security partners. We are actually having a meeting with the entire community tomorrow on the elections. So this is very timely.”
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