TheCable

A Twitter user, @dunchichi, says some Nigerians are detained at the Dubai international airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite having valid documents.

In a series of tweets on her Twitter handle on Wednesday, she said their passports were seized after being held in a room hours after their arrival in Dubai.

In December 2021, the UAE had placed a ban on passenger flights from Nigeria over efforts to contain the Omicron variant of COVID — the restrictions were, however, lifted in January 2022.

In a 42-second video on Wednesday, some persons are seen talking to a man in what seems to be an office, and saying “we have human rights; if I tell the United Nations about this thing, it doesn’t make sense; I got my visa; I used my money to buy a ticket; I came to visit.”

However, the man in the office repeatedly tells the persons in front of him to “go outside”.

I'm at Dubai international airport and myself and some tiger Nigerians with valid Visas are being held in a room hours after arriving with no explain and no information on what we can do. Please help me. There's more than 20 of us pic.twitter.com/6LpchsoJU2

— Dinchi. (@dunchichi) August 31, 2022

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“This is the situation happening with Nigerians arriving Dubai today 31st August 2022. Detained and our passports siezed. Help!” @dunchichi tweeted.

“If they are sending us back, then they should send us back instead of holding us here without reason after long flights from different destinations.

“Is it a crime to be Nigerian? How can a visa be issued to you and then you get held at the airport without information. My sister that came to see how she can help is not being given any information either and I have not been able to see her.

“Nigerians should stop visiting Dubai. Cos we cannot be humiliated this way by the same people that issued us visas. Use your money to come and get humiliated. Nah.”

In a later tweet, the Twitter user said she had been released, but other persons were still at the airport.

“My sister had to go through immigration to get me released. It was a tedious process. Others are still there and I don’t know their status. What happens if you have no family here? Nobody knows what is going on,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, as of the time of this report, Abike Dabiri, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), had not responded to messages from TheCable nor did her line go through when contacted on the development.