Posts falsely claim Trump imposed ban on all Nigerian politicians visiting the US

“Breaking News: Trump has imposed a ban preventing all Nigerian politicians from visiting the U.S. for any reason,” reads a Facebook post published on January 22, 2025. 

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Screenshot showing the false post, taken January 29, 2024

Attached to the post are photos of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Trump. 

The rest of the post claims Trump has also frozen “Nigerian international bank accounts” and ordered the deportation of two million Nigerians from the United States. 

The post was shared by an India-based account called “Ipob North Delhi”. IPOB – Indigenous People of Biafra in full – is a group pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast region, where a bloody civil war was fought in the late 1960s.

IPOB supporters are openly critical of the Nigerian government. A review of the account shows most of the content is pro-IPOB and disparaging toward the Nigerian state and specifically the country’s army.

Several other Facebook accounts (see here, here and here) shared the same claim.

Back in the saddle

Trump returned to power as the 47th US president after his inauguration on January 20, 2025. His comeback was historic following his loss of the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.

But Trump’s victory has heightened concerns about his “America First” agenda which could mean a potential reduction in aid and support for health programmes, including those in Africa (archived here).

As of January 31, 2025, Trump has signed  43 executive orders — ranging from declaring a national emergency at the southern border, reinstating the federal death penalty, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization and many more (archived here).

However, Trump has not imposed a travel ban on Nigerian politicians, nor has he stipulated plans to deport millions of its citizens.

False claim

A keyword search revealed no news of Trump banning any Nigerian politician or making an executive order that affects Nigeria in isolation, including the freezing of bank accounts.

Contacted on January 29, 2025, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the claim is “not accurate”.

Daniel Bwala, Tinubu’s communications adviser, also denied the claim.

Bwala said the Nigerian government is following developments in the United States and none of the executive orders so far have targeted Nigeria.

“The claims are not only baseless but also lazy. Under international law, if you are proclaiming sanction, it must be stated in specifics and not blanket. Our diplomatic relationship with the US is intact and the federal government did not receive such,” Bwala told AFP Fact Check. 

A review of the US Office Foreign Asset Control's website showed no recent action taken against Nigeria (archived here).

Otherwise known as OFAC, the office enforces economic and trade sanctions to support US foreign policy and national security by targeting entities involved in terrorism, narcotics, and other threats.

With Trump’s signing of the executive order “Securing our Border”, millions of undocumented individuals could face immediate consequences including deportation from US soil (archived here). 

One of the policy actions stated in the order is “removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law”. But there is no mention of specific numbers, nor the specific targeting of undocumented Nigerians.

The BBC reported on January 29, 2025, that more than 3,500 undocumented migrants had been arrested since Trump returned to the White House (archived here).