Monday, August 25, 2025 - The legal team of Nigerian business mogul, and former governorship candidate, Ambassador Comrade Olufemi Ajadi Oguntoyinbo, has written to the United States Embassy demanding a formal review of the recent visa denial issued to Ajadi and his wife, Mrs. Oyindamola Motunrola Ajadi.
In a strongly worded application dated August 18, 2025, the
law firm Izunya Izunya & Co., signed by the head of the chamber, Barrister
Isaac Izunya, the couple’s lawyer, alleged that the refusal was “erroneous,
issued without specific reasons, and in violation of bilateral diplomatic
principles.”
The demands addressed to the U.S. Consular General at 2
Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos, requested the embassy to
exercise supervisory powers to review the decision, which was premised on
Section 214(b) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. To reinforce the
demands, the letter was also copied to the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria in Abuja,
urging high-level intervention.
Ajadi, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Bullion Go-Neat
Global Limited — with business interests spanning beverage manufacturing, real
estate, entertainment (Bullion Records), and sports (boxing promotions) — and
his wife had applied for a U.S. business visa following an official invitation
from Tunnad Properties, a registered American real estate company. According to
documents attached to the demands, including the invitation letter dated May
15, 2025, the couple fulfilled all requirements, submitted all relevant
documents, and answered questions at the Abuja visa interview.
Despite this, the couple was issued a refusal notice on
August 4, 2025, citing Section 214(b), which presumes visa applicants may not
return to their home country unless they demonstrate strong ties.
Barrister Izunya, however, argued that the embassy’s denial
letter was “vague, generic, and improperly drafted,” failing to contain the
names, application numbers, or passport details of the applicants. He
maintained that the decision did not tie the cited law to the Ajadis’ case and
thus fell short of international best practices.
“We refuse to admit that the United States of America, the
most powerful country on planet earth, will issue a visa denial letter without
being properly addressed to the applicant and without reason for such denial,”
the demands read.
The legal team further noted that both Ajadi and his wife
have established strong ties to Nigeria, with ongoing businesses locally and
investments in Grenada and the United Kingdom. According to them, the absence
of specific grounds for denial violates the spirit of the Nigeria–U.S. visa
reciprocity agreement.
The demands warned that the refusal has caused
“psychological trauma and pain” to the applicants, who, it argues, were denied
transparency in the process.
Among the prayers submitted, the legal team demanded that
the Consular General:
Review the CCTV footage of the visa interview and the audio
tape.
Re-examine all documents submitted by the applicants.
Provide clear, specific reasons if the denial must stand.
The demands also copied the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria in
Abuja, urging high-level intervention.
This development comes just some days after Ajadi himself
publicly accused the U.S. of using visa applications as a tool for “economic
exploitation and second colonisation.” Speaking in Ogun State, he had decried
the practice of collecting full visa fees from Nigerians while issuing mass
printout denials without stating the applicants identity. claimed the process
is not transparent justification.
“Nigerians are financing the American system,” Ajadi said.
“The visa fee is $185 per person, non-refundable. Multiply that by hundreds of
thousands of applicants every year, and it becomes a billion-naira pipeline
flowing from Nigeria straight into American coffers. My name is unique, just
like every applicant’s. Each individual deserves a letter stating clear reasons
for denial. What we have instead is not transparency but institutional
deception. Nigerians deserve better.”
The U.S. Embassy in Abuja is yet to respond to either
Ajadi’s public allegations or his legal team’s demands. But observers note that
the matter is rapidly evolving from a personal grievance into a larger
diplomatic question about fairness, transparency, and reciprocity in
international visa regimes.
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