Nigerians will not be maltreated in China, House of Representatives Speaker warns Chinese ambassador

4 years ago

Honorable Femi Gbajabiamila the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives has warned the Chinese ambassador to the country that Nigerians will not be maltreated.

Viral videos on social media show Nigerians protested being forced into a 14-day quarantine after an initial 14 day isolation period.

The Honorable met with Zhou Pingjian the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria and made his intentions known.

He said, “If the diplomatic relationships between our two countries are for the mutual benefits of our citizens, then there must be respect for our citizens, and we should not compromise it.

“As a government, we will not allow Chinese or other nationals to be maltreated just as we will not allow Nigerians to be maltreated in other countries.

“The way you treat your citizens, we expect that’s how you’ll treat others. We will not tolerate our citizens breaking your laws but the crime of one citizen cannot be used to stigmatize the whole country.

“It appears that’s what happened in this case. You can’t use one brush to smear the whole wall. Whatever the reason, it cannot be used and taken out on the entire community in China”.

The Chinese ambassador responded saying, “We take our relationship with Nigeria very seriously. Until we receive a full report from back home, I cannot act but I can assure you it is not a policy issue.

“We treat everyone equally but during the implementation of the COVID-19 measures in China, it is possible for some incidents; all I do is to take it back home, today I will.”

In a message on his official Twitter account, the Speaker said, “Today I met with the ChineseFlag of China Ambassador to Nigeria on the disturbing allegation of ill treatment of Nigerian citizens in China. I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday.

Tosin Abayomi