Is There A Yorùbá Nation Diplomatic Passport?
An X user claims there is a Yorùbá Nation Diplomatic Passport that is recognised, authenticated, and gives immunity for free passage in West Africa, Europe Countries, and North America to the holder.
This claim was posted on July 12, 2025, with a feminine hand holding an international passport, and captioned, “As the whole world 🌎 is banning and rejecting Nigeria Passport & Visa at hand. Yorùbá Nation Diplomatic Passport 🛂 is Recognized, Authenticated, and gives you immunity for free passage in West Africa, Europe Countries, and North America 🌎”.
This claim had over 5,800 views and about 130 replies, reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks, as of when this report was published.
VERIFICATION
The Yoruba self-determination movement, also called “Yorùbá Nation”, is an advocacy group seeking autonomy or independence from Nigeria, but it has no legal status as a sovereign state recognised by Nigeria or any other country. The movement occasionally stages high-profile actions like petitions to the UK government and symbolic “flags” during protests.
In Nigeria, diplomatic passports can only be issued by the federal government through the Ministry of Interior and the Immigration Service. These documents are strictly regulated and only for authorized diplomats and government officials. There is regular documentation of the retrieval of illegally held diplomatic passports.
NV-A conducted a Google reverse image search on the claimed passport and found out that the image was manipulated. The original picture was extracted from a video and edited as the pictures below indicate.
The image of the Yorùbá Nation Diplomatic Passport was also uploaded on forensically, a software that identifies inconsistencies in digital images. The areas highlighted by the tool with bright patches are indicative of possible cloned regions.
Dots and lines showing evidence of manipulation. Source: Forensically
Diplomatic passports in Nigeria are issued only by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, under the authority of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency. Only specific categories of officials qualify, such as the president and vice president, state governors and their deputies, ministers, ambassadors and high commissioners, members of the national assembly (on official assignments), etc. These passports are used solely for official diplomatic missions, not for private or political purposes. Separatist groups not recognised by the government or any sovereign state cannot legally issue or hold a diplomatic passport. A diplomatic passport is an international symbol of state sovereignty and mutual recognition between countries. Only governments or states that have a defined territory, a permanent population, a government capable of exercising effective control, and the capacity to engage in relations with other recognised states can issue diplomatic passports.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Yorùbá Nation Diplomatic Passport is recognised, authenticated, and gives immunity for free passage in West Africa, Europe and North America is FALSE. The Yorùbá Nation does not have autonomy or independence from Nigeria and is not considered a sovereign nation by global standards of recognition.
