The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has denied claims associating the Nigerian embassy with the arrest of passport applicant in Switzerland untrue.
An unidentified person in a viral video had accused the commission of instructing cops in Switzerland to arrest Nigerians who moved to procure passports.
Refuting the claim, NiDCOM spokesperson Abdulrahman Balogun on Wednesday said the commission did not invite the police, rather it called on the embassy protection unit to help ensure decorum as many applicants disregarded Covid-19 guidelines.
“In view of the video circulating on social media alleging that the Nigerian mission in Switzerland invited police to arrest Nigerians who were at the Nigerian Embassy in Switzerland to procure their passports, it is imperative to state the facts of the matter and put the incident into the proper and true perspective.
“But on this day, 64 Nigerians besieged the Nigerian mission in Bern. It turned out that only 10 of them were on scheduled appointments. So, 54 of them had no appointment for that day. That apart, they had not made the mandatory online payment and the majority of the applicants came from Italy and Spain. Without any appointment whatsoever and without any payments made online.
“While the Nigerian Ambassador, Baba Madagu was addressing them, they barged in through the front door and overcrowded a hall that was meant to receive only 10 people at a time.
“The embassy did not call the police as erroneously stated in the video, but invited the Embassy Protection Unit to bring calm and decorum back to the hall,” Balogun said.
He noted that the embassy protection unit simply urged applicants to be Covid-19 compliant, adding that the embassy attended to all those on scheduled appointments.
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