The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Abuja on Wednesday give reasons , following the cancellation of visa on arrival of 264 Nigerians at Jeddah International airport.
The Embassy stated that some of the affected passengers did not fulfill the entry conditions and requirements in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom.
This came barely 24 hours after the Senate, House of Representatives and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would investigate the cancellation of visa by the government of Saudi Arabia.
Recall that the Saudi government had on November 13, cancelled the visa of 264 Nigerians at Jeddah International airport but ensured 177 of them were returned to Nigeria by Air Peace.
However, making the clarification, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Abuja insisted that the procedure was not limited to Nigerian citizens only, but rather to citizens of other countries.
The statement reads: “The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Abuja would like to make a clarification about the media reports and Social Media releases concerning the deportation of Nigerian citizens at the point of entry into the Kingdom.
“The passengers who were denied entry, and subsequently deported to their initial destinations, didn’t fulfill the entry conditions and requirements in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom, as they submitted incorrect information to obtain a category of visa that doesn’t apply to them, which was discovered upon their arrival.
“The Royal Embassy would like to stress the importance of following the procedures and laws enacted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for all visitors.
“Furthermore, all passengers should review all the documents to determine their conformity with the conditions prior to departing from their countries to the Kingdom. This procedure was not limited to Nigerian citizens only, but rather to citizens of other countries”.
The Senate declared that it will look into the incident before making a decision.
Sen. Yemi Adaramodu, the Senate’s spokesman, revealed the Senate’s intention to look into the incident and expressed the chamber’s concern that it might happen while Nigeria and the Kingdom were enjoying amicable diplomatic relations.
Adaramodu said: “We will investigate this incident. We will hear from the airline, Nigerians who were victims of this sad incident and our ministry of foreign affairs to find out what happened before reaching a conclusion.
“To the best of our knowledge, there is no diplomatic dispute between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
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