Glorious said he later returned to the consulate and was told that he needed to undergo another capturing exercise because officials had intended to contact him.
A Nigerian man, Babatunde Glorious, has accused the Nigerian Consulate in Guangzhou, China, of failing to issue him a replacement international passport since April 2026, despite repeated visits to the diplomatic mission and multiple biometric capturing exercises.
Glorious, who said he has been living in China for the past two years, told SaharaReporters that he had visited the Nigerian consulate five times to inquire about his passport but had yet to receive it or obtain a satisfactory explanation for the delay.
According to him, the process was further delayed after the officer responsible for handling his passport reportedly passed away, leaving him uncertain about the status of his application and the steps required to complete the process.
He explained that after submitting his application and undergoing biometric capturing in April, he received neither a text message nor a phone call from the consulate informing him that his passport was ready for collection or explaining why the process had stalled.
Glorious said he later returned to the consulate and was told that he needed to undergo another capturing exercise because officials had intended to contact him.
He said he complied with the instruction and completed the second capturing exercise but had not received any communication from the authorities since then.
In a document obtained by SaharaReporters, the passport application appointment slip reportedly contains details including the applicant's name, appointment date, tracking number and personal contact information.
The document provides a record of his application process and the appointment associated with his request for a replacement international passport.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Friday, Glorious explained that his ordeal began after his bag, which contained his international passport and other important documents, was stolen in China last year.
“I have been in China for the past two years now.
“My bag was stolen last year in China, and it contained my international passport and other documents, sir. I reported the matter to the police in China when the incident happened,” he said.
He explained that he initially hoped to recover the stolen documents but eventually decided to apply for a replacement passport after failing to retrieve them.
“I was hoping I would retrieve the passport back, but I couldn’t. I then applied for another international passport,” he told SaharaReporters.
According to him, he submitted his application in April 2026 and completed the required biometric capturing, expecting to receive a notification within two weeks.
“I applied in April this year and went for capturing. Normally, I was supposed to receive a message or phone call after two weeks of capturing, but I didn’t,” he said.
Glorious said he became concerned when the expected period elapsed without any communication from the consulate.
He subsequently returned to the diplomatic mission after waiting for about a month, only to be informed that he needed to undergo another biometric capturing exercise.
“I went there after a month of capturing, and I was told that I needed to do another capturing because they intended to call me. I did another capturing that day,” he said.
He said that despite complying with the instruction, the consulate failed to contact him or provide an update on his application.
“Ever since I did another capturing, no call, neither message,” he said.
Glorious said his repeated visits to the consulate had not yielded any result, adding that Friday marked the fifth time he had gone there to seek clarification about his passport.
“ I have gone there several times. Today makes it the fifth time of going there,” he said.
He further stated that before making his latest visit, he contacted a senior immigration officer to discreetly investigate the status of his application and establish why his passport had not been issued.
According to Glorious, the officer subsequently informed him that his passport was being deliberately withheld, although no reason was provided for the alleged action.
“Before going there today, I spoke to one senior immigration officer about it, to secretly do an under-check for me,” he said.
“The person told me they intentionally withheld my passport. I asked if they could tell me the reasons for such action, but they said no reason was found,” he added.
Glorious said he returned to the Nigerian Consulate in Guangzhou on Friday to make further inquiries but was left waiting for hours without receiving attention from the officials.
“I went to the Nigeria Consulate in Guangzhou today again for an enquiry about my passport,” he said.
“I waited for more than two hours, but nobody attended to me,” he added.
He also claimed that during an earlier visit, an official had told him that the delay was not the fault of the consulate but was attributable to authorities in Nigeria.
“She already told me the last time I went there that the fault wasn’t from them but from Nigeria,” he said.
The delay has left Glorious without a replacement international passport for several months after losing his original travel document, despite his efforts to complete the application process and comply with the instructions given to him.
His account also raises questions about communication with Nigerians seeking consular services abroad, particularly applicants who have completed biometric capturing but are unable to obtain their travel documents or clear information about the status of their applications.
On June 19, 2026, SaharaReporters reported that a Nigerian postgraduate student at the University of Bristol, Daniel Jasper Emmanuel, accused officials and individuals operating at the Nigerian High Commission in London of corruption, intimidation and abuse after he was denied access to collect his renewed Nigerian passport despite receiving official confirmation that it was ready for collection.
Emmanuel, an indigene of Benue State and an MSc International Relations student at the University of Bristol, told SaharaReporters that he was kicked out of the Nigerian High Commission located at 9 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BX, after refusing to pay a bribe demanded by individuals controlling access to the embassy.
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