Fugitive radical cleric al-Assir got his visa through normal application - Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Garba Shehu, on Wednesday revealed that preliminary investigations indicate that wanted radical preacher Ahmed al-Assir got his Nigerian visa through a normal application.

The fugitive radical Sunni preacher who is linked with the terrorist group ISIS was arrested at the Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport while trying to leave Lebanon to Nigerian through Cairo using fake Palestinian travel documents.

In a statement made to the Daily Times, Shehu Garba said,

"Any claim linking the man to the Nigerian government must be regarded as born out of mischief. Our missions attend to all applications. Once an application meets the basic conditions, there is very little that the visa issuing officials can do, especially since he was using a false identity."

"The government is awaiting the report of the investigation, but preliminary reports show that the applicant’s manifest documents raised no suspicion. There was nothing extra-ordinary about the application. If he had applied as a tourist or as an investor, there would be little for the visa officials to suspect that the applicant was a terrorist." he said