Some foreign journalists have claimed that the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs is frustrating their attempts to obtain a visa in time for the upcoming elections.
It would be recalled that Nigeria will hold presidential, senate and House of Representatives elections on February 14. State governors and members of their state houses of assembly will be elected on February 28.
Many foreign journalists are looking to cover this big political event in the history of Nigeria.
Geoffrey York, an Africa correspondent for The Globe and Mail, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has recently stated that foreign journalists are being blocked from getting visas to cover the elections by the foreign ministry.
“At Nigeria’s information ministry, bored officials show no interest in helping journalists enter and are demanding security clearance from intelligence. Nigeria allowed many foreign journalists to cover Bring Back Our Girls last year but is now blocking at least 40 journalists from covering the election,” the correspondent said.
It should be also added that the European Union is sending 90 election observers to Nigeria to ensure the elections are free and fair.
But some of them reportedly refused to monitor the February general elections in the north-eastern parts of the country as a result of the insecurity posed by members of the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
