The destiny of many Nigerians stranded in Sudan is in doubt due to the controversies surrounding the evacuation process.
According to a source familiar with the evacuation process, those Nigerians scheduled to be evacuated were abandoned by embassy personnel, who allegedly joined their families in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.
Due to the closure of Sudanese airspace, flights scheduled to transport individuals departing Sudan have been landing in Egypt and neighboring countries.
The Federal Government had made plans for Sudanese evacuees to be transported by car to Cairo, where they would board aircraft back home.
The exodus began after Sudan’s warring factions agreed to a three-day ceasefire.
According to reports, some Nigerians were stranded en route to Cario, but the situation was addressed after top government officials intervened.
Sudanese warring factions, however, extended the ceasefire by three days, beginning Friday.
However, the evacuation could not continue because officials had reportedly fled Sudan.
This sparked a protest at the evacuation site in Khartoum.
Protesters reportedly held a bureau de change operator, Ibrahim Abdallah, ransom and beat him viciously.
Abdallah was claimed to have been involved in bus provision in addition to receiving a monetary transfer designed to support the journey.
In video and audio files made accessible to journalists, Abdallah was heard claiming that the deposit sum of $250,000 had been depleted.
He stated that the balance has yet to be supplied, and that approximately 25 buses scheduled to rescue additional trapped Nigerians have subsequently withdrawn their participation in the exercise, and that officials have been unresponsive.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), stated on Wednesday that there were at least three million Nigerians in the East African country, but the Federal Government will evacuate as many as possible.
Dabiri-Erewa did not answer to an enquiry about the latest situation in Sudan since her phone line went dead and she did not respond to a text message sent to her.
NIDCOM spokesperson Gabriel Odu claimed he did not have the power to comment on the matter and directed Dailytrust to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
However, a senior NEMA official, who did not want his name used because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, stated that the officials could not have abandoned the stranded Nigerians.
“The NEMA DG is on the ground supervising the evacuation.” “As a result, it is unlikely that officials working under his supervision will flee when he is on the ground,” the person said.
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