By Tonye Clinton Jaja
There is a popular wise saying: “Be careful what you wish for because it might come true”.
I have just read an online newspaper, wherein the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of Nigeria (General Christopher Musa) has once again commented that: “We met all the requirements to be granted a visa to Canada to attend the Invictus Games at Vancouver, Canada”.
In his own opinion, they had a letter of invitation from the organisers in Canada therefore he ought to have been granted the visa to Canada.
In response to that line of argument, there is a popular Nigerian saying: “Salutation is not love”. As teenagers, we learned the hard way that just because a pretty damsel greets you, doesn’t mean that she wants to be taken to the altar!!!
A letter of invitation from one of the agencies of the government of Canada does not automatically guarantee that the Immigration authorities of Canada would grant a visa to the CDS. The first time that I applied for a visa to study in the United Kingdom, I was denied even though I held a valid letter of admission issued by the University of London. It took the assistance of an immigration lawyer to submit a successful second visa application by helping me to collate all the relevant documents before submission.
Even when I was part of a delegation of the National Assembly legislators and officials on an official visit to the Parliament of Denmark, even with a valid Note Verbale issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we were denied visas in the first instance!!!
There is another reason why the CDS annoyance at being denied the visa to Canada to attend the Invictus Games is worrisome.
Ordinarily, the CDS ought to regard this visa denial as a blessing in disguise.
The reason is because the Invictus Games is primarily for injured and disabled veteran soldiers.
This is obvious by what is posted on the website as follows:
“Serious injury or illness can significantly affect a person physically, psychologically and socially. For those who have served, these injuries or illnesses, whether sustained during conflict or otherwise, can have the additional impact of dramatic and sudden changes to their chosen career or lifestyle, placing pressure on their family or home life.
The Invictus Games Foundation offers a recovery pathway for international wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women (WIS). We collaborate to provide opportunities for post-traumatic growth: enabling those involved to reclaim their purpose, identity and future, beyond injury”
Amongst the categories of sports at the Invictus Games are:
- Para-weightlifting;
- Para-basketball;
- Para-volleyball;
- Para-sprint;
- Para-relay;
- Para-table tennis
So assuming that the CDS was granted the visa, which of these sporting events was he qualified to participate in?
One should be careful what one wishes so desperately for so that it doesn’t come true!!!
If then he was going there as a spectator, whatever happened to watching it via television?
Even if he had subscribed to one year of DSTv, it would not be as expensive as the air flight ticket to and fro Canada.
What could be a better display of patriotism than to sacrifice the games via television and save our country the millions of naira associated with physical attendance?
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja,
Executive Director,
Nigerian Law Society (NLS).
