THE Nigerian High Commissioner to Namibia, His Excellency Ambassador Prince Adegboyega Christopher Ariyo, shocked guests when he initiated a fistfight at a high profile gala dinner, attended by Namibian and Nigerian dignitaries for busines networking.

The fight at the gala dinner-turned-boxing-match, erupted when Ambassador Ariyo physically booted fellow Nigerian citizen and Windhoek resident, Debo Ogunbiyi, from the Safari Hotel and Conference Centre last Wednesday, claiming that he was not invited.

Efforts by Ogunbiyi to explain to the Ambassador that co-organiser of the event, the Association of Nigerians in Namibia, had invited him to the function, proved fruitless. Seething with anger, the Ambassador, allegedly grabbed Ogunbiyi pushed him to the floor and pinned him down whilst pummelling him.

Stunned guests including officials from the Namibian Ministries of Finance, Information and Technolgy and Education, and their Nigerian counterparts including some Nigerian State governors, watched in disbelief as Embassy Staff rushed to pull their Ambassador off Ogunbiyi.
Despite being overpowered by the combined efforts of His Excellency, Prince Ariyo and the Embassy Staff, Ogunbiyi managed to throw a few punches in the air before fleeing the scene.
Ambassador Ariyo confirmed that he kicked Ogunbiyi, whom he recognised as a Nigerian citizen at the event, claiming that he had been in the wrong place.
“I had important people including Ambassadors at the event, and I could not keep him. This was an event organised by the High Commission and I made provisions for only 80 people, and he was not invited,” he said.

An official of the Association of Nigerians in Namibia, who witnessed the incident, confirmed that Ogunbiyi was invited.
“For the first time, I hate being a Nigerian – and for the Ambassador and Embassy Staff to physically remove me from the event – shame on them,” Ogunbiyi fumed.
Ogunbiyi said he attended the event not for fun but rather to network and check on opportunities available.

“What’s wrong with a Nigerian attending an event organised using Nigerian taxpayer’s money. Is my Embassy, an institution that’s supposed to protect me, now telling me that I cannot meet with my fellow citizens?”
The following Thursday when Ogunbiyi went to the Windhoek Police Station to report the case, he said that the police turned him away, claiming that the Ambassador enjoys diplomatic immunity and therefore cannot be prosecuted.

According to Sunday Sun findings, this is not the first time Ambassador Ariyo had caused public embarrassment for his country. In an earlier Informante expose, he was reported as one of the ‘dozing diplomats and politicians’ during President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s important and legislated State of the Nation address to Parliament.

Before going to press there were several attempts by the victim, Ogunbiyi, and officials of the Association of Nigerians in Nambibia to gag the story. They claimed that an urgent meeting with the Ambassador was held where “the matter has been solved.”