The row between the Goan government and Nigerians escalated today with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar accusing a diplomat of the west African country of sending "offensive SMSes" to a senior police officer over the killing of a Nigerian national.
"He (the diplomat) was wrongly briefed and went to the extent of sending offensive SMSes to our Superintendent of Police," Parrikar told reporters at Vasco town, without naming the diplomat.
The Nigerian diplomat, who was recently in Goa, had reportedly warned of "repercussions" against Indians living in Nigeria if his fellow countrymen were harassed in Goa, drawing the ire of the state government.
Goa's Art and Culture Minister Dayanand Mandrekar, who sparked a controversy by describing Nigerians as "cancer", today apologised for his comments, saying it was a mistake.
"It's my mistake to make such statement. I apologise," Mandrekar told reporters here.
However, the minister said what Nigerians did in Goa is also wrong.
Parrikar said the diplomat who arrived in Goa, had not come through a proper channel.
"As a foreign diplomat, he should have come through the Ministry of External Affairs. I never got any communication that anyone is coming," the chief minister said.
He claimed that the "misunderstanding" between Nigeria and India is a fallout of wrong media reporting.
"I never said that Nigerians would be deported, but what I had said was that illegally staying foreigners including Nigerians would be deported," Parrikar said.
