“Election riggers in America will be denied Nigerian Visa – Buhari warns,” reads a screenshot of a website article, posted on Facebook. The image shows a photo of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari.
It was posted on 4 November 2020, the day after the US presidential election, with the comment: “Biden take note.” Former vice president Joe Biden ran against president Donald Trump in the election.
On 7 November most major media outlets projected that Biden had won, and several global leaders have congratulated him. But Trump, the Republican candidate, has refused to concede, faulting the electoral process and approaching the courts to contest vote-counting in some states.
The US government has imposed visa restrictions on “individuals responsible for undermining the Nigerian democratic process or for organizing election-related violence” many times.
The most recent visa ban was announced days before the September 2020 governorship election in Edo state, southern Nigeria.
But has Nigeria’s president really retaliated with a threat to withhold visas from people who “rigged” the US elections?
The Nigerian government has not made any official statement about the election. We found no evidence that Buhari has announced any visa ban for US “election riggers”.
None of Buhari’s media aides has released any statement about it. And it is not mentioned on the president’s Twitter account, where he tweets speeches and official statements. – Allwell Okpi
It was posted on 4 November 2020, the day after the US presidential election, with the comment: “Biden take note.” Former vice president Joe Biden ran against president Donald Trump in the election.
On 7 November most major media outlets projected that Biden had won, and several global leaders have congratulated him. But Trump, the Republican candidate, has refused to concede, faulting the electoral process and approaching the courts to contest vote-counting in some states.
The US government has imposed visa restrictions on “individuals responsible for undermining the Nigerian democratic process or for organizing election-related violence” many times.
The most recent visa ban was announced days before the September 2020 governorship election in Edo state, southern Nigeria.
But has Nigeria’s president really retaliated with a threat to withhold visas from people who “rigged” the US elections?
No official communication
The Nigerian government has not made any official statement about the election. We found no evidence that Buhari has announced any visa ban for US “election riggers”.
None of Buhari’s media aides has released any statement about it. And it is not mentioned on the president’s Twitter account, where he tweets speeches and official statements. – Allwell Okpi
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