Zimbabwean Authorities break silence on David Hundeyin’s detention

Mangwana, the Zimbabwe Permanent Secretary in charge of Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting, revealed that Hundeyin traveled to Zimbabwe with the same passport he used to seek refuge in Ghana while traveling with a Nigerian passport.

The Zimbabwean government has provided an explanation for its Wednesday morning arrest and detention of David Hundeyin, a Nigerian investigative journalist and activist.

Nick Mangwana, the Zimbabwe Permanent Secretary in charge of information, publicity, and broadcasting, said that Hundeyin traveled to Zimbabwe using the same passport while seeking asylum in Ghana and was in possession of a Nigerian passport.

As a result, Mangwana continued, the journalist was “promptly arrested, detained, and deported.”

Earlier, Hundeyin had alerted authorities that he had been held by the Zimbabwean government at the Harare Airport, according to Platinum Times Nigeria.

According to an account the journalist himself posted on Twitter, he was held captive for “nearly seven hours in a smelly locked room.”

However, the Zimbabwean authorities later released him and led him out of the airport.

Mangwana, the permanent secretary of Zimbabwe, tweeted about the detention: “It seems David Hundeyin is seeking asylum in Ghana using the papers he traveled with while possessing a Nigerian passport. Unfortunately for him, he was caught, detained, and deported right away since Ghanaians cannot enter Zimbabwe without a VISA.

“I am sorry that this journalist found himself in this situation. That said, we do have Immigration laws in our country that are obligatory to all prospective entrants, and no profession is immune to them. If someone’s travel document is such that they need a Visa, that law applies to everyone including “an award winning journalist”. Our laws are blind to social stations or attended achievements.

“Jaqui, since he has chosen to put all his issues out without making full disclosure, it forces us to give details we would have preferred not. But we realize this may affect how Zimbabweans are treated when they visit Nigeria so we are going give the information here.

“David came with Ghanaian Refuge papers claiming he was a Nigerian who was a refuge from his home country. His country of Asylum is Ghana after claiming to be running away from persecution in Nigeria. People in this category certainly need Visas to enter Zimbabwe. He wasn’t coming in to work as a journalist. He said he was just coming to visit but without getting a Visa in Ghana first. Other parts of his story were also unsatisfactory to the immigration authorities. He was considered not a candidate for entry into Zimbabwe.”

“The great fraternal relationships between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Zimbabwe do not preclude the nationals of either country from the inconvenience of meeting Visa requirements of either sister nation. You are not even sure whether he is even being treated as a Nigerian or another nationality.

“And it’s unethical for me as offices to discuss an individual’s live immigration case on Twitter giving all personal circumstances. What I can assure you is that by now I have already established that he failed to meet certain immigration requirements and entry was refused. That is as far as I can go. The Nigerian Consulate may be able to make the necessary interventions which speak to our historical and current relations. Good Night.”

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