The Federal government has declared that it is unperturbed by resolutions of the United Kingdom parliamentarians to sanction top Nigerian officials and security agents involved in the alleged violation of EndSARS protesters’ rights.
Nigeria insisted that the resolution does not represent the position of the British government.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, reportedly said in Abuja that the UK government will not sanction Nigerian officials on the basis of a fake report.
The minister was reacting to Monday’s resolutions taken after the parliamentarians had considered a petition signed by 220, 000 signatories in the aftermath of the alleged shooting of protesters at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, calling, among others, for sanctions against indicted Nigerian officials.
The UK Parliament’s Petitions Committee had on Monday debated the motion “that this House has considered e-petition 554150, relating to Nigeria and the sanctions regime.”
Petitions debates are general debates, which allow members of parliament from all parties to deliberate on crucial issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to government ministers.
A member of the Petitions Committee, Theresa Villiers MP, opened the debate, while the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office sent a minister to respond.
However, Mohammed reportedly said there is no reason for the Federal government to be worried by the UK Parliament’s resolution.
The minister stated that what the UK Parliament relied on to arrive at its resolutions were fake news and hearsay.
Lai Mohammed
He said: “The Federal government is not panicky at all. The resolution of the UK Parliament is not necessarily the decision of the UK government.
“And no responsible government will consider sanctioning the federal government based on fake news and hearsay without getting in touch with the government.
“Two issues – the resolution of the UK Parliament doesn’t represent the position of the government of the UK and only the government can sanction and parliament can only make resolutions.
“Secondly, we are very confident that no responsible government, no serious government, is going to consider imposing sanctions on other countries based on fake news and unverified videos.
“They will also do their own painstaking investigations and also ask for the side of the country. So, we have no reason to panic at all because we know that all the evidence before them is fake news- nothing of big news.”