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  • 2019-12-20 (xsd:date)
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  • No, this photo does not show an Egyptian religious scholar weeping over Nigeria’s immigration policy (en)
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  • A photo shared thousands of times on Facebook, as well as on WhatsApp, supposedly shows an Egyptian Muslim cleric weeping for Nigeria over President Muhammadu Buhari’s newly-announced immigration policy. This is false: the man seen in the picture is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar, who has made no public comments about Nigeria’s immigration policy. We’ve archived one of the Facebook posts, shared nearly 6,000 times on Facebook, here . In it, the Egyptian Muslim cleric asserts that the new immigration policy will hurt Nigerian Christians, especially members of the Igbo ethnic group. Breaking News. I am an Egyptian Muslim cleric but seriously weeping for Nigerian Christians. You people don't know the real motive behind the order by buhari for all Africans to come to Nigeria without visa especially those from Muslim part. I am weeping for Christians in Nigeria especially the IGBO people! it reads. The cleric is said to have added that Nigerian Christians should pray seriously because 2020 will be bloody! A screenshot taken on December 20, 2019, showing the photo as seen on Facebook The same post has been circulating among Nigerian WhatsApp groups, as well as on this blog . Buhari has pledged to make travel easier for Africans While at the Aswan Forum in Egypt earlier this month, Buhari announced that from January 2020, Nigeria will commence issuance of visas at the point of entry into Nigeria, to all persons holding passports of African countries. Nigeria is committed to supporting the free movement of Africans within Africa, Buhari said. The policy announcement has received both praise and criticism; while some Africans have hailed it as a move that will make travel and trade easier, some Nigerians worry that it could pose a security threat. Controversial Nigerian pastor Johnson Suleman tweeted on Wednesday that he’s been thinking about the govt's decision to give Visa on arrival to all holders of africa passport. Won't that make Nigeria flooded with our already limited Infrastructure and increase crime rate? he asked. Details of how the new policy will be implemented, including how long Africans will be able to stay in Nigeria, remain thin. There is as yet no evidence that it will lead to an influx to Nigeria from Muslim countries in particular, as suggested by the post. Travel for Africans seeking to visit neighbouring countries has long been notoriously difficult -- in 2017, the continent’s richest man Aliko Dangote complained that he needed 38 visas to travel within Africa on his Nigerian passport. However, Nigeria is not the only country that has been loosening its visa policies of late. Kenya announced a similar policy of visas on arrival for Africans in 2017, while Ethiopia announced the same move last year. This cleric is not Egyptian, and the photo was online long before Nigeria’s policy change The man in the picture is not an Egyptian cleric -- and the photo itself existed on the internet long before Nigeria’s change in visa policy was announced. A quick Google reverse image search showed that the man in the picture is Mohamed Al-Hassan Ould Al-Dido , a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and thinker. Other image searches also show that the picture had been on the internet as early as 2016 , years before Buhari made the announcement. We have found no public comments by Al-Dido on the new Nigerian immigration policy, despite online searches in both English and Arabic. The cleric has often been filmed crying while speaking about religion -- for example in this video , where he talks about loving God. (en)
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