Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that the alleged ill-treatment of Nigerians in China has been sorted out by both countries.
Several Nigerians were seen in a viral video recently being harassed in Guangzhou area of China.
The National Assembly leadership and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, met with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, over the issue.
Mr Gbajabiamila, however, said on Wednesday on Twitter that he was glad the matter had been resolved.
“I’m glad the matter of maltreatment of Nigerians in China has been sorted out between both countries,” he said.
“The ambassador has communicated his findings and we hope that moving forward communication will be swift and clear and due process will be observed even where there are allegations of wrongdoing by citizens of other countries.
“It is important that we follow up on this and Nigerians can legitimately go about their business in the People’s Republic of China.”
“I spoke with the Acting Consul General, Mr Razak Lawal whose robust defence of the rights of Nigerians in China went viral and I salute the gentleman diplomat for his dedication to duty and his patriotism,” the speaker added.
Mr Onyeama, however, met the Chinese ambassador again on Tuesday and spoke with the media on the alleged incident.
“There was flight which conveyed a group of Nigerians to Guangzhou in which some Nigerians tested positive for COVID-19,” he said.
“Amongst the Nigerians, was a lady who owned a restaurant, a Nigerian restaurant frequented predominantly and almost exclusively by Africans mainly Nigerians. The Chinese authorities obviously picked up on this that there was this group of people who had tested positive.
“And so, automatically demanded and insisted that they all be quarantined, with nobody allowed to come out in 14 days and if anybody came out from that quarantine that they should not be allowed in if it was a hotel, back into that hotel or that residence.
“So, they put in very, very strict measures to try to contain this outbreak which to them at that time, clearly seemed to have been within that community. Now, it was misinterpreted it appeared, by some of the Nigerians and Africans who could not understand why it seemed to be selective and targeting only themselves.
“Our officials in China made it clear that the communication could and should have been better if the authorities in Guangzhou had informed the African consulates, that this was the situation and these were the measures that they were putting in place and it made it a joint effort, that mutual suspicion would not have been there. And, of course, that was not done and that led to counter-narratives and exacerbated the situation.”
