US embassy speaks on David Oyedepo’s alleged VISA denial

LAGOS, Nigeria – The American Embassy in Lagos has reacted to reports that it denied US VISA to Nigerian influential pastor and General Overseer of Living Faith Bible Church Worldwide, otherwise known as Winners’ Chapel International, Bishop David Oyedepo.

The social media has been rife with reports that the US embassy denied the David Oyedepo VISA to the United States and that a mild drama ensued after the development, forcing the pastor to make some telephone calls. 

But reacting to the news, the US embassy  on Twitter described the report as nothing but false news, adding that the report was manufactured by the media and should therefore be disregarded

“#FalseNews Alert! Be advised, the reports making the rounds about a visa being denied to Nigerian Bishop Oyedepo are false.

“ If you have seen this manufactured item in the media, help defeat this #misinformation by communicating to everyone that it is completely false”, the US embassy twitted. 

However the social media report which said Oyedepo was denied VISA also holds it that Nigerian ace comedian, Abovi Ugboma, popularly known as Bovi was lucky with the embassy as he was issued the visa.

But that his wife, Kris Asimonye, was also denied VISA.

THISDAHY newspaper which reported the incident  said the embassy did not give any other reason except the standard default explanation that the Bishop did not qualify for visa renewal in its assessment and urged him to try again.

“When THISDAY contacted the embassy for clarifications on why the popular Bishop was denied visa, a staff of the embassy in the media department, requested that an email be sent with the questions and promised to respond as soon as possible.

“Curiously, the embassy, believed to be swift to responding to mails, neither acknowledged nor responded to the email sent since 5.05p.m. yesterday till the newspaper went to bed”, THISDAY reported.