Ebun Olowu
Nigeria’s High Commission in Ottawa, Canada has gone on an indefinite suspension of its activities, following an assault on its staff.
In a statement on its website, the High Commission said it was forced to close to the public after Nigerian citizens conducted themselves in an unruly manner at the commission’s office.
The statement agreed that a number of citizens have compelling passport renewal requests which it was ready to attend to in a responsible manner.
Attending to such categories of citizens was made strictly by appointment on designated days of the week.
This it said enabled the High Commission to admit a limited number of people into the chancery at a time and observe the laid down rules of physical and social distancing.
However, some other citizens abused the privilege showing up at the chancery without an appointment and insisting on being attended to, even on days when they were not open to the public at all.
The commission said such people behave in a most unruly manner, disturbing the peace and banging windows, etc. forcing them to cease operation.
It cited an incident last Friday 14 August, when a group of Nigerians showed up at the high commission and refused to allow the embassy staff to attend to those who had appointments.
The group insisted the embassy must attend to everyone who showed up.
The statement read, “Matters came to a head on Friday, August 14, 2020 when a group showed up at the high commission and refused to allow the embassy staff members to attend to those who had appointments. They insisted that we had to attend to everybody who showed up. They went as far as holding a female staff member who went to address them hostage for over twenty minutes and subjected her to physical abuse.”
The commission in the statement eventually explained that they would be exploring ways of making their premises more secure and less susceptible to unruly behaviour and violent mob action.
