By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Two UK journalists have criticised the visit of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with one of them calling the West African nation a dangerous destination.
Michael Cole, royal correspondent and expert had featured in a TalkTV show anchored by Kevin O’Sullivan where he called Nigeria a dangerous destination.
Heritage Times HT recalls that Duke and Duchess of Sussex had visited Nigeria to celebrate the Invictus Games, Harry’s tournament for wounded soldiers in Nigeria.
This however has not gone down well with the journalists who believe Nigeria does not deserve the royal visit.
“I couldn’t tell you the number of royal tours that I’ve been on and what you say is absolutely right. Nigeria, the foreign office and the American State Department both say it’s a dangerous destination, you must not go there. It vies with Johannesburg, South Africa to be the murder capital of the continent.
“In that country, there’s industrial scale, volumes of people who are ripping off people around the world, internet fraud, wholesale internet fraud, defrauding old ladies, stealing identities and none of that is ever prosecuted,” Cole said.
Cole, a former BBC journalist, also said he was puzzled by Prince Harry’s actions to visit Nigeria, stating that they defy common sense and reason.
Also, arising from the visit, the TV host O’Sullivan compared Nigerians to Nazis, insisting that Nigeria does not deserve endorsement from anyone, especially members of the royal family.
“The royal family doesn’t just go anywhere. These tours are planned years in advance and the countries that the royals honour with their visits are very carefully chosen.
“There’s no way our royal family would set foot in Nigeria, a country where female genital mutilation is rife; where women’s rights basically don’t exist; and where hundreds of kids are regularly kidnapped by extremist Islamic groups.
“This is not a country that should be endorsed by anyone certainly not our royal family and these two are naive in what they’re doing. They’re making this country look good when it doesn’t deserve it,” the journalist said.
Heritage Times (HT) recalls that King of England, King Charles III, has at three different occasions visited Nigeria.
Then Charles, Prince of Wales, he has visited Nigeria four times, in 1990, 1999, 2006, and 2018.
For his first visit, he and his now late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales arrived in Nigeria on March 15th, 1990.
