Northern groups call for prompt evacuation of stranded Nigerians

The Coalition of Northern Groups has called on both houses of the National Assembly, to compel the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian representative at the African Union, to ensure the urgent and safe evacuation of Nigerians trapped in Sudan.

The group made the call in a statement on Monday, where it noted the “disturbing” failure of the federal government, to rescue about 4000 Nigerians stranded in war-torn Sudan.

“The Coalition of Northern Groups CNG is extremely saddened and concerned by the reports that about 4000 Nigerians trapped in Sudan have not been evacuated. We find it disturbing that the Federal Government of Nigeria should afford to fail once again, in the statutory responsibility of protecting Nigerians at home in Nigeria and abroad.

We demand action from both houses of the National Assembly to compel the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser and Nigeria’s representative in the AU to ensure the urgent and safe evacuation of Nigerians who are mainly northerners trapped between Khartoum, Ethiopia and Egypt,” the statement read.

Advertisement

There has been fighting in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, between factions of Sudan Army Chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Bahran, and the rival Rapid Support Forces of his former deputy, Mohamed Daglo, leading to the death of hundreds, and leaving many foreign nationals stranded.

While noting that a majority of the stranded Nigerians were of northern Nigerian origin, the group said it was curious that the government was allowing innocent lives to be endangered, while other African countries had evacuated their citizens.

“We are thus worried because a majority of the stranded Nigerians in Sudan are northern Nigerians which perhaps explains the levity and condescension with which the federal authorities are handling the situation.

“We wonder why the sense of urgency applied in the evacuation of Nigerians from Ukraine at the onset of the Russian invasion is not extended to the situation in Ukraine. It is otherwise curious why the Federal Government would allow innocent lives to be endangered in a foreign land while Egypt and Ethiopian authorities exploit their situation.”

It added, “CNG, therefore, warned the government that it would be held responsible should anything happen to the stranded Nigerians.”

“The CNG hereby categorically condemns the deliberate insensitivity in the handling of the situation of Nigerians in Sudan who are mostly of northern extraction.

“We warn that the Federal Government of Nigeria will be held responsible for any harm to any Nigerian citizen in the conflict in Sudan for not showing real commitment to their evacuation as other responsible governments have done.

“We call the attention of Nigeria and other leading African nations that in the current escalation of conflict in Sudan. Silence has become complicity and inaction has become no longer an option.”