Saudi Arabia Cancelled Visas Of 431 Nigerians In 48 Hours – Air Peace Boss

The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has said that Saudi Arabia authorities cancelled 431 visas of Nigerians heading to the country via Air Peace between Monday and Tuesday.

Onyema made the disclosure during a television programme, Politics Today aired on Channels TV which was monitored by THE WHISTLER.

THE WHISTLER reported on Monday, November 13, 2023, that out of 264 Nigerians that flew to Jeddah via Air Peace, the visas of 177 passengers were cancelled on arrival in Saudi while only 87 of them were allowed into the Arab country.

This has generated reactions particularly because the visa cancellation was done by the Saudi authorities when President Bola Tinubu was attending the Saudi-Africa summit in Riyadh.

The reason for the cancellation, according to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Nigeria was that the affected Nigerians onboard the Air Peace flight gave false information to obtain the visa and that they did not meet the entry conditions.

Onyema said from the Air Peace point of view, “It was very unfortunate that something like this ever happened in the first place. Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have a long history of good relationship and we don’t want to soar the relationship. The Federal Government says it is still under investigation.

“I want to say something. Every country puts in their visa that it is not a guarantee that you must enter their country they still reserve the right to either deny or allow you entry into their country. I don’t want to dwell on this. I want decorum, I want diplomacy. Let justice and fairness prevail.”

Onyema explained that at the time the airline was checking the passengers, their visas were valid and it passed through the Advance Passenger Information System which also approved it.

He said the manifest from Kano to Jeddah was transmitted and the APIS was live. He also said that all the visas were examined in the visa verification portal supplied by the Saudi government and it was approved.

The Air Peace boss said, “The airline followed all the procedures. But when they got there, some of the people passed about 80 of them and suddenly the immigration saw that the visas of the remaining passengers had been cancelled.”

Aside from the cancellation which first happened on Monday, Onyema also confirmed another incident that occurred on Tuesday from Nigeria where out of 297 Air Peace passengers that were flying to Saudi, only 43 were allowed to fly while 254 visas were cancelled in Nigeria.

Onyema also confirmed that on the same day on Saudi Airline, 313 passengers with the same class of visa were allowed to fly on the Saudi Airline, but the case was different for passengers who boarded Air Peace.

He lamented, “Like I said before, I cannot explain some of these things; all I know is that yes, it is true that out of 297 visas, 254 were cancelled and it happened again after the Monday incident but this one was cancelled here (Nigeria). Even better, they didn’t get up to Jeddah before cancelling it. We ended up going with 43 passengers and over 250 empty seats.”

Onyema said he does not want to conclude that the reason for cancelling the visas of Air Peace passengers was a deliberate attack on a Nigerian airline in order to protect Saudi Airlines.

He said, “Well, the government is investigating. I definitely do not want to delve into it. Let us wait for the investigation. As an airline, we will wait for investigation and cooperate with both authorities.”