Dear Ambassador Carson,
I am writing to inquire why Security guards at the US Institute of Peace where Nigerian president Buhari spoke in Washington, man-handled a Nigerian American attendee for wearing a T-shirt bearing the picture of captive Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu.
The citizen, a lawyer by training who was admitted to the Nigerian bar almost 20 years, (name withheld) could not believe his ears, when after clearing mandatory security screening, he was informed by your guards that “someone upstairs” said his T-shirt was “Anti-Nigeria” so he was asked to leave.
At this point, my learned colleague phoned me and informed me of the unfolding situation. I couldn’t immediately comprehend what he was saying because it never once crossed my mind that in the United States of America a US citizen or anyone would be denied entry into a taxpayer funded institution because of his attire.
Over the phone, I heard my learned junior state that he would record the security men who were stopping him from entering.
The next thing I overheard them telling him that this was “private property” so he should leave. However I informed him over the phone that the USIP is not a private property but public.
I heard him advise them that he was a subscriber of the USIP and had been invited to the event.
Thereafter I heard them threatening to physically expel him and him telling them repeatedly to take their hands off him. I advised him to leave and come out while I got out of my car and rushed to the event venue while still monitoring him on the phone. This is the US and black people are killed pointlessly and constantly.
Fortunately as I arrived at the event, he was already safely outside.
While it is not surprising that USIP offered Buhari a soft platform unlike more intellectually rigorous counterparts, it was shocking that you went to the extreme of persecuting an American for exercising his constitutional free speech rights just to defend the indefensible failed Buhari regime.
What was on the alleged “anti-Nigeria” T-shirt for which the barrister was unceremoniously kicked out of the event by USIP
It simply said “Prisoner for Christ FREE Leah held by terrorists in Nigeria since 2018.”
How is this anti-Nigerian? Is Buhari against the freedom of Leah? Is it pro-Nigeria to accept enslavement of abducted Christians?
I have worn that same T-shirt on numerous occasions around the world and especially in Nigeria but never once has any security personnel harassed me on account of it.
By demanding that the learned gentleman undress himself before he could go in, the USIP is becoming as intolerant and autocratic as Buhari their despicable hero.
What happened should NEVER have happened unless the USIP is a sham. The institute must apologize to its guest for this barbaric, unprofessional and unAmerican conduct immediately. Only empty heads are threatened by ideas and respond to thoughts with brutality.
I therefore ask that you:
1. Produce the CCTV video and any other incident reports of that day
2. Identify the personnel involved in maltreating the gentleman
3. Confirm if the person giving orders “upstairs” was a Nigerian member of Buhari’s delegation
4. Conduct an investigation into this assault
5. Convene a meeting to apologize to my colleague for this brazen and barbaric behavior.
6. Explain how a “Free Leah” Tshirt qualifies as “anti-Nigeria”
Please see sample of Tshirt.
Sincerely,
Emmanuel Ogebe
US Nigeria Law Group
