An Abuja-based lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja praying for an order directing the Federal Government to stop issuing entry visas to Italians, Iranians and Chinese.
The plaintiff filed the suit with the Attorney General of the Federation as the sole defendant.
He stated in his counter-affidavit that the suit was “propelled by the urgent need to protect the public health of all Nigerians susceptible to infection of the dangerous Coronavirus Disease 2019 that originated from China and has been spreading like wildfire to many parts of the world”.
He said “even the most advanced countries ” had been taking “extreme travel measures” as a precaution, but the “Federal Government of Nigeria has continued to expose millions of hapless, poor and extremely vulnerable Nigerians to the grave but avoidable risk of being eliminated by this extremely dangerous disease by continuing to allow flights from the countries known to be highly infected with the dangerous disease into the Nigerian airspace.”
He noted that the foremost duty of every government elected under the Nigerian Constitution “is the protection of life and property of citizens”, adding that the Federal Government “is under a duty to take all proactive steps to forestall the spread of this globally-dreaded disease in the country.”
Jideobi, therefore, sought, among others, “a mandatory order directing the Federal Government of Nigeria (through her Diplomatic Missions abroad) to cease issuing Nigerian visa (of any category) to citizens of China, Iran and Italy forthwith until and unless the WHO authoritatively confirms that the spiral spread of the dangerous Coronavirus Disease 2019 has effectively been tamed and totally contained.”