By Abdallah el-Kurebe and Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan might have fled the country leaving students and other Nigerian citizens in danger.
The students are shouting out for help from any quarters. Those who found their way out of Khartoum to the Ethiopian border cannot be allowed to pass through without visa.
According to the students, the violence which hitherto was happening in areas far from thier lodges has gotten closer.
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A student from Sokoto state, Al-Mustapha Aminu Boza said in the Hausa language in a video that even Sudanese were leaving Khartoum, the Sudanese capital and deserting the area in fear of the waring parties.
He lamented that while other countries were evacuating their citizens from Sudan, Nigeria has left its citizens to perish.
“Previously, we were hearing gunshots and explosives from afar. Yesterday, we spent over 10 hours with no food and water, and electricity was cut off.
“You can hear the gunshots coming right from our front door, right now as we speak. Even our landlord has left this premises without notifying us. We also intend to leave because even citizens of Khartoum are leaving.
“We are appealing to the Nigerian Embassy to evacuate us from here,” he said.
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His father, a member of Sokoto State House of Assembly, Aminu Al-Mustapha Boza confirmed to ASHENEWS in a telephone conversation that the officials of the students’ university had accommodated some of them while waiting for the Nigerian government to evacuate them.
“As I speak to you, there doesn’t seem to be anything that the Nigerian government is doing to evacuate Nigerian students in Sudan. I was told by a lecturer in the school who is a Nigerian that some of the students have been accommodated by the proprietress of the school pending when the Nigerian government evacuates them.
Another student, Fauziyya Idris Safiyo, who was successful to have fled Khartoum with many other female students, to Gallabath, an Ethiopian border town with Sudan, said in a video recorded in the Hausa language that the lives of Nigerian students trapped in Khartoum were endangered.
According to her, although they were lucky to flee Khartoum, they were currently stuck at Gallabath until they can secure a visa before the Ethiopian authorities would allow them entry. She said they had made an online application for the visa after paying $80.
“Nigerian embassy sent a letter to the immigration office in Ethiopia without visas but the immigration office in declined to honour the letter. They insisted that we must have visas to be able to pass through their borders,” Safiyo said.
According to her, Tanzania, Malawi, Somalia and Syria had evacuated their citizens but Nigerians were left at the mercy of the waring parties.
Reports in Sudan indicate that hundreds have been killed since the unrest broke out following a clash between the forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
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On its part, the federal government has said that it is working to ensure the evacuation of the Nigerian students stranded in the area.
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, while commenting on the government’s efforts said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama is coordinating efforts which will see to the commencement of evacuation as soon as possible.
“Nigerian government has been having sleepless nights following the ongoing crisis in Sudan. Our officials are doing a lot, coordinating with the Embassy in Khartoum, the Sudanese and Ethiopian governments trying to ensure the safety of the large number of our citizens there, “he said.
