The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government of spreading fake news following Japan’s denial of claims that it had agreed to issue “special visa categories” to Nigerians.

President Tinubu had claimed after the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) that Japanese authorities had consented to create a special visa category for Nigerians. However, the Japanese government, in a statement, clarified that its new “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative does not include granting Nigerians or any Africans special immigration privileges.

The statement explained that the programme is designed to strengthen exchanges between African nations and Japanese local governments, not to offer special visas.

“Under this program, four cities in Japan are designated as ‘home towns’ for four African countries,” the statement noted. “JICA plans to promote exchanges between these Japanese cities and African countries through various activities, including exchange events involving JICA overseas cooperation volunteers.”

Reacting, ADC’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the denial shows how desperate the APC-led government is for positive publicity.

“This denial by the Japanese authorities shows that the Tinubu/APC government has become so desperate for positive headlines that they would not mind spreading fake news,” Abdullahi stated.

“The truth is, with this government, we don’t know what to believe anymore. This embarrassment just has to stop.”