Former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said Nigeria does not want Venezuelan prisoners to be deported from the US to the country.

This was after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb Yusuf Tuggar, said the United States is mounting pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelan deportees, stating that it would be difficult for Nigeria to do so.

Speaking when he appeared on Politics Today, a programme aired by Channels TV, Tuggar said, “You have to also bear in mind that the US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prison.

“It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own.

“We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud. We already have 230 million people. You will be the same people that would castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelans from US prisons to be brought in,” he said.

Reacting, Sani re-echoed the minister's stance, adding that such deportation should also never happen in the future.

He wrote, “If the US wants to send Nigerian prisoners in US Jails back to Nigeria, that is ok and should be accepted.

“We don’t want Venezuelan prisoners in our country and there should be no space for them now or in the future”.

ASA