Former senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has faulted attempts to pin responsibility on the United States following its latest visa restrictions affecting Nigerians, arguing that the country is reaping the consequences of its own contradictions and misplaced activism.
Reacting to the development on Wednesday, Sani noted that Nigeria was listed among countries affected by the suspension of visa processing, while South Africa was exempted, despite what he described as its open hostility towards former US President Donald Trump. To him, the contrast was telling and deeply instructive.
The United States had announced a temporary halt in visa processing for applicants from Nigeria, Russia and several other countries, citing an ongoing review of its immigration screening framework. The decision has triggered widespread debate, particularly among Nigerians with academic, professional and personal ties to the US.
In a post on his verified X handle, Sani maintained that Washington should not be cast as the villain. Instead, he argued, Nigeria’s predicament was largely self-inflicted.
According to him, some Nigerians wrongly assumed that openly campaigning against their own country or pandering to foreign interests would earn them protection, validation or preferential treatment abroad. That assumption, he said, has now collapsed.
“The real victims,” Sani stressed, “are ordinary Nigerians studying, working, living or merely visiting the United States,” who have been caught in the crossfire of diplomatic miscalculations and image mismanagement.
He warned that those who projected Nigeria negatively on the global stage in the hope of personal gain would ultimately gain nothing from it, describing their expectations as hollow and unrewarded.
