Alhaji Tunde Rahman, the spokesman of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has denied that his principal was denied a visa of the United States of America.
Alhaji Rahman spoke in reaction to a story by nigerianconcord.com.ng that the US did not renew the visa of Tinubu.
He said: “Oga, it’s an original fake news.
“HE Asíwájú was not and has never been denied US visa.
“He has a two-year valid visa that was renewed last November.
“Two years is the maximum any Nigerian can get.
“It’s a ridiculous post by a non-existent news online.
“You know one can’t really be taking issues with a non-existent platform.
“The fake story was attributed to Nigerian Concord newspaper.
“The Concord as you know closed shop many years ago!”
“We don’t have time for a rabble-rouser seeking to drive traffic to a fabricated and unknown website.”
The Nigeria Standard recalls that the nigerianconcord.com.ng had after initial story on the issue, followed up with another, where it insisted on its authenticity.
In fact, the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the online publication, Abiodun Oluwarotimi, challenged Tinubu to prove he was not denied US visa.
However, details of Tinubu’s existing valid visa had emerged.
The APC presidential candidate renewed his US visa in November 2021.
As is the practice, the former two-term Governor of Lagos State was issued a two-year visa, the maximum period of validity any Nigerian can get.
According to WesternPost, the current visa was issued on November 18, 2021 and will expire November 15, 2023.
From the US visa bromide available to WesternPost, Tinubu’s type B1/B2 visa carries control number: 20213207840001.
It also reported that perhaps miffed by the fake and groundless report, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, last week visited Tinubu at the APC Presidential Campaign Office in Abuja, where she cracked a joke with the APC standard-bearer, saying: “So the two-year visa you received last November has suddenly expired.”
Ambassador Leonard was accompanied on the visit by the US Political Counsellor, Rolf Olson.
