The Federal Government on Monday said that no date had been fixed for President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposed visit to Canada.
The Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said that the proposed visit had not been cancelled.
There were media reports on Monday that the Canadian government cancelled Jonathan’s scheduled state visit to the country because of his recent signing of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013 into law.
The President’s visit to Canada, which was said to be at the instance of the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was said to have been earlier scheduled for February.
It was reported that the decision to cancel the state visit to Canada was communicated through the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada who in turn passed on the message to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim.
But Onwuliri told our correspondent that the governments of the two countries had not reached an agreement on the date of the proposed visit.
With that, Onwuliri said the trip remained a proposal and nobody could be talking of cancellation.
She said, “It is not true that the President’s proposed state visit to Canada was cancelled.
“In international protocol, dates are proposed for trips and the two countries keep exchanging correspondences until a week to the visit and the date is finally confirmed.
“In this case, that has not been done. The visit was only proposed, so we cannot talk of cancellation.
“This development is normal in international protocol, it is not new. After all, we were supposed to go to Vatican too.”
Also, Canadian government has denied cancelling Jonathan’s visit to the country.
Canada, through its embassy in Abuja debunked media reports that it cancelled the scheduled visit because Jonathan signed the anti-gay law.
In an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents, the Canadian Counsellor in Abuja, Ms. Alexandra Mackenzie, said there was no scheduled visit of Jonathan to the country.
Responding to an inquiry from our correspondent, Mackenzie said, “Canada and Nigeria enjoy shared interest in expanding opportunities for economic, social and security cooperation between our two countries.
“No visit is scheduled. However, we look forward to the opportunities of welcoming President Goodluck Jonathan to Canada at a future date.”
Our correspondent, however, gathered that the two countries had for some time been exploring diplomatic channels to arrange a visit for President Jonathan to Canada before he signed the anti-gay law.
A source in government, who confided in our correspondent said, “It is true that the two countries are working towards the visit of President Jonathan to Canada, but the arrangement has not been concluded. You cannot cancel a visit that has not been scheduled. The arrangement is still on but no date has been fixed.”
Jonathan had on January 7 assented to the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013 which criminalises homosexual partnerships on the country.
On January 14 when it became public that the President had signed the bill into law, the Canadian government openly expressed concerns over the law.
Meanwhile, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State in Dublin, Ireland, likened gay marriage to pedophilia, a psychiatric disorder, in which an adult has sexual interest in children.
Uduaghan, who was in Ireland to receive the International Leadership Award, expressed support for the law forbidding gay marriage signed into law by Jonathan on January 7.
Source: Punch
