Stranded Nigerians in warring Sudan are reportedly protesting as the officials of the Nigerian Embassy involved in their evacuation have fled.
The officials were said to have joined their families in the journey to Cairo, the capital of Egypt and abandoned the remaining stranded Nigerians to their fate, a source privy to the evacuation exercise told Daily Trust.
SaharaReporters reported that following the outbreak of conflict in the North East African country, Sudanese airspace was shut down, forcing several countries to evacuate their nationals through neighbouring countries.
The Nigerian Government had made arrangements for Sudan evacuees to be moved to Cairo by road from where they would join flights back to Nigeria.
The evacuation process began after the warring factions in Sudan agreed to a three-day ceasefire.
It had been reported that some Nigerians were stranded en route to Cairo on Thursday, but the government later said all issues had been resolved and that a batch had already arrived in Egypt.
On Thursday, the Sudanese warring factions agreed to extend the ceasefire by three days, starting from Friday.
The paper, however, reported that the evacuation process could not continue as officials had reportedly fled Sudan, a development that led to a protest at the venue of evacuation in Khartoum.
The protesters reportedly held and beat up one Ibrahim Abdallah, a bureau de change operator.
In addition to receiving a cash transfer meant to finance the journey, Abdallah was said to have been involved in bus provision.
In video and audio clips which Daily Trust said it obtained, Abdallah reportedly said the amount sent as a deposit was $250,000, which had been exhausted.
He said the balance was yet to be sent, disclosing that about 25 buses billed to evacuate other stranded Nigerians had since withdrawn participation in the exercise and that officials were not responsive.
When SaharaReporters contacted the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Pascali Omayuli, she said it “is not possible because it is against the ethics of the job”.
SaharaReporters
