Embassy anger Nigerians over Independence party

A quite number of Nigerians in Hungary are not happy that the 48th National Day celebration of their country was marked strictly by invitation at a top hotel in Budapest. This group of Nigerians have questioned the rationale behind such closed door initiative which they simply called discriminatory gesture. 

The embassy which seemed taken aback that some Nigerians could be furious for not being invited has since reacted. Minister Plenipotentiary/Head of Chancery, Mr. Olutola John Onijala in a telephone chat, advised them to write a letter of complaint and send it to the ambassador.

"They can write a letter and inform us of their complaint that they were left out,” said Mr. Onijala". He further stated that the embassy invited those it thought were among the Nigerian community here.

When asked about the criteria for being invited, Mr. Onijala explained: "If somebody is registered with the embassy, Nigerian Union executive members, and normally it is at the discretion of the embassy". However, there are some who claimed they did register with the embassy even before the present crops of diplomats but were not invited.

The situation was different elsewhere. The Nigeria Embassy, Switzerland had an open invitation for its citizens to celebrate similar festival which was also held at a top hotel in that country. According to a reliable source, the Nigerian ambassador in that region, H.E. Martin J. Uhomoibhi, received many Nigerians in Switzerland to celebrate the event with them.

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On that Mr. Onijala said that the embassy would have organised a party for the Nigerian community in Hungary on a different day but lack resources to do so. But such explanation was dismissed as hogwash by a Nigerian woman who accused the embassy of treating  Nigeria’s National Day as family affairs.

"They (the embassy staff) parked themselves together in an atmosphere supposed to be graced by Nigerian citizens in Hungary," she groaned, adding that if that was the case, why did the embassy hold party for the students separately? Is it because some of their fathers are ministers?  Another Nigerian quipped, "If it is true that the embassy invited students separately then it is wrong. It is wrong because not only Nigerian students live in Hungary".

Alhough Mr. Tunde Adeosun believed there was nothing wrong because of security to have the celebration exclusively for ambassadors, high commissioners and others; he berated the embassy for what he called "the selection of a few Nigerians". Unable to hide his anger, Mr. Adeosun, a former Union Committee member, declared that the embassy err for that single action, adding that to hear our Independence Day celebration from those who attended it undermines whatever the embassy stands for.

 "We are not calling for party every month," he said. "It is our Independence Day, a great opportunity for the embassy to know Nigerians and their families living in Hungary. Also, it would have been a perfect moment for Nigerians to meet each other. It couldn't have cost that much for our embassy?"

Whilst the embassy was forthcoming in explaining its decision, Nigerian Union president, Mr. Felix Omoregbee, appeared vague in his response. He seemed not to grasp the gravity of such accusation as he chose to treat it with levity. He simply thanked this writer for such observation adding, "Please try to attend the Union General Meeting always to hear more on such topics as a bona fide member of the Union".

Those who felt betrayed by the Union president for dinning with embassy officials at their expense reminded him of his promise before being "selected" as the Union president. "I know the time is coming when he will be forced to remember us," said a former Union Committee member. "That is when he will be campaigning to be re-elected".  

A Nigerian student who attended the party offered to explain why many Nigerians may have been disregarded. He said the embassy might have feared the repercussion of inviting many Nigerians to such occasion where ambassadors, foreign ministry officials and other dignitaries were present.

"You know Nigerians especially the illiterates are unpredictable on occasions like that," he asserted. "So it's better to protect the image of our country in the presence of ambassadors and other important personalities".

Hakeem Babalola

Copyright 2008

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