A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala, has accused the presidency of deliberately misleading Nigerians about the outcome of President Bola Tinubu’s discussions with his United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In a statement, President Tinubu’s spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, said both leaders met in Abu Dhabi on Monday and sealed a historic agreement, which resulted in the immediate cessation of a visa ban placed on Nigerian travellers by the UAE authorities.
Ngelale added that by the agreement, both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines were to resume flights into and out of Nigeria without delay.
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However, in a statement on its website on the diplomatic meeting, Emirates News Agency, UAE’s official news agency, did not mention anything about the lifting of visa ban on Nigerians as well as flight resumption. The agency only noted that the UAE president and Tinubu explored opportunities for further bilateral collaboration in areas that served both countries’ sustainable economic growth, including the economic, development, energy, and climate action fields.
Reacting in a Tuesday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bwala said the claims in the Nigerian presidential statement were a ‘national disgrace’.
In the post titled, ‘Nigeria v Dubai visa and flight restriction saga’, the former spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organisation said, “Unless President Tinubu deliberately intends to mislead Nigeria and Nigerians, there is an urgent need for the President to apologise to Nigeria and Nigerians for the falsehood contained in a statement issued by his media aid(e).
“That statement was circulated to both local and international news media who themselves went ahead and published the falsehood. National disgrace,” Bwala said.