March 27, (THEWILL) – The United Kingdom (UK) has said no fewer than 10 individuals are on its watchlist, following the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, disclosed this on Sunday, when he was featured in a current affairs programme on Nigerian Info FM.
The British High Commission, last week, said the UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell MP, was prepared to take action against those who engaged in or incited electoral violence during the just-concluded general elections in Nigeria.
Speaking on Sunday, Llewellyn-Jones said the UK was already collating names of perpetrators and would impose sanctions “including preventing people from obtaining UK visas or imposing sanctions under our human rights sanctions regime.”
He said, “We’re working through a list and we don’t publish those names. I know people say we should, but you know we have laws that protect. But we do have a list. We said that we would do this and we will do this. And, you know, we’re gathering the kind of information that would enable us to do this around specific individuals.
“You know, we watched very closely. I was in Lagos the whole time. We had people on the ground in key places. We won’t publish the names. We don’t do that. We can’t do that. We have between five and 10 names on its list already, it is a growing list. “
Llewellyn-Jones decried the controversial statement attributed to a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Femi Fani-Kayode.
Fani-Kayode is the Director, New Media sub-committee of the APC-PCC. He had in a series of tweets, reportedly used words and phrases deemed derogatory, divisive and inciting against the opposition.
“The single greatest lesson that the 2023 presidential election has taught us is that God will NEVER allow a practising sodomite and his repugnant retinue of perverts, pimps, fraudsters, court jesters, degenerates, monkeys, slaves and malefactors to lead Nigeria”, the former minister had tweeted.
In another tweet, the APC chieftain said; “What @PeterObi, @atiku & their thugs did to the CJN is despicable. They lied against him, defamed him, rubbished his reputation & sought to humiliate, blackmail, undermine, destroy & disgrace him out of office. These savages & barbarians seek to destroy all our revered institutions.
“As a consequence of the events of the last few days I am constrained to say that, like a rabid and mad dog that is foaming at the mouth, the Nigerian opposition, represented by the followers of Atiku Abubakar (Atikulators) and the followers of…”
Condemning the divisive politics that played out during the election in Lagos, Llewellyn-Jones noted with concern why the ruling APC had yet to distance itself from some comments made by Fani-Kayode.
“Yes, let’s be specific, there were some people, like Femi Fani-Kayode, what is he saying and why is he saying it? I don’t understand.
“It is wrong from my perspective that he will speak on behalf of a party and that party does not distance itself from him and say stop doing that. It is wrong to say that.
“To me, it is really important, people who have said I am part of a party’s press and media campaign, well, the party itself should say no you are not, and you should stop and we do not agree. I know that some leaders very clearly said we are about unity, and that is good, I encourage that.
“The problem is if you get the other people over here, who are very clearly associated with the party and giving you another message, and there isn’t any kind of calling out of that. What would you take from that as a voter?
”And if Lagos can’t be that kind of cosmopolitan melting pot of culture and language and all the things that should be, really how’s Lagos going to succeed?”, he queried.
Meanwhile, Fani-Kayode said he remained undaunted by the threat of the Visa ban.
Reacting in a series of tweets, Fani-Kayode advised Llewellyn-Jones to “keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs.”
The tweets read: “These are my personal views and I am constrained to express them, given the fact that one @benllewellynjo1, a misguided, mischievous and clearly unlettered Englander, who does not know his place, threw away all caution and mentioned my name in his inglorious commentary.
“I would advise this Ben, who I am told is the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Nigeria, to keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs. Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.
“I know that his preferred candidate did not win the presidential election, but that does not mean he should cross the line and take liberties with us here. I wonder who the hell he thinks he is. I am not one of those Nigerians that bows, shakes, shivers and trembles before the British or indeed any other foreigner.
“And unlike most, I do not need any validation or endorsement from him or his ilk and neither can I be intimidated by his veiled threat of a visa ban. Frankly, I could not care less.
“I would, however, take this opportunity to assure him that regardless of his views and desire to compel us to accept their godless so-called “humanist” and “libertarian” values and introduce evil practices and policies such as same-sex marriage in our country this will never be the case.
“My aversion for sodomites remains as constant as the northern star and whether he likes it or not we will never allow a sodomite to be our President. Neither will we accept lessons in decency, etiquette, what to say or how to speak from a fading British civil servant and a man that represents a nation that has committed more atrocities than perhaps any other in the history of humanity.
“I advise this little Englander to respect himself and remain a silent observer when it comes to the politics of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a nation, we are not a poodle of the British and we came of age 63 years ago.
“He should be more concerned about the shrinking fortunes of a once “Great Britain” and the systemic racism, inherent injustice and insufferable arrogance that is entrenched in the British establishment and society than in the intra-party politics of Nigeria.
“He should also be more concerned with the efforts of his nation to bring us one step closer to WW3 given the unfolding events in Ukraine.”
