Journalist Who Created ‘Fake’ Bawumia Islamist Funding Story Arrested In Zimbabwe

Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin, who reported on alleged financial backing from an Islamic group in Nigeria for Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign, is facing difficulties in Zimbabwe.

The journalist began disseminating unfounded accusations about the Vice President’s campaign team having connections with an Islamic group called Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Nigeria, an assertion that was later refuted and dismissed.

“After explicitly clarifying that the Bawumia Campaign had no financial support or association with any Islamic group in Nigeria or elsewhere, the campaign team made this statement. Subsequently, the Nigerian journalist was apprehended by Zimbabwean authorities and denied entry into Zimbabwe.”

Investigative journalist and filmmaker, David Hundeyin, originally from Nigeria, but reportedly traveling with a Ghanaian refugee passport, created an online trend after attempting to enter Zimbabwe without a visa.

On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 7:32 PM, Hundeyin posted on Twitter, expressing his frustration about being detained for approximately 7 hours upon his arrival at Harare Airport.

He claimed that he presented his refugee passport from Ghana but was still subjected to the lengthy detention. In a series of tweets, he further described being locked up in an unpleasant, confined room for nearly 7 hours and was only granted access to the washroom after a total of 10 hours.

In his tweets, David Hundeyin elaborated that even though he was carrying a Ghanaian refugee passport, he was not permitted to enter Zimbabwe without a visa. According to him, the authorities asserted that despite using a travel document from a country with a visa-free arrangement, his nationality remained Nigerian, and as a result, he was required to have a visa for entry.

David Hundeyin provided a detailed account of the events leading to his detention, expressing surprise at the need for a visa to enter Zimbabwe despite possessing a refugee passport from Ghana, which should have granted him visa-free access to the country.

He mentioned that in the past two years, he had traveled to numerous countries across the globe using the same valid Ghanaian refugee passport, and it was only in Zimbabwe that he encountered entry refusal. David also pointed out that his passport contained a valid UK visa and had various entry and exit stamps from multiple jurisdictions inside and outside Africa. He found it unexpected that Zimbabwe was the only place where he faced difficulties while traveling with this specific document.

In response to Zimbabwe’s minister of information mentioning his asylum status in a tweet, David expressed surprise and implied that such information was not typically disclosed in other countries he had visited. He urged for transparency in discussing the situation, mentioning the extensive travel history he had with the same passport without any issues in other places around the world.

Source: GhanaFeed.Com