Northern groups knock FG for delay in evacuating Nigerians in Sudan

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has knocked the federal government for their inability to evacuate about 4000 Nigerians trapped in Sudan following the recent crisis that broke out in the capital Khartoum.

In a statement signed by the CNG Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the Group said it is further worried by reports of the inhuman and exploitative treatment meted on those who manage to arrive Cairo and Ethiopian boarders are subjected to, while the Nigerian government appears helpless.

“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 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 emergency applied in the evacuation of Nigerians from Ukraine at the onset of the Russian invasion is not extended to the situation in Sudan. 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 said

CNG further demanded 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 urgent and safe evacuation of Nigerians who are mainly northerners trapped between Khartoum, Ethiopia and Egypt.

The Federal Government has said evacuation will commence on Tuesday, with Air Peace offering to render the service free of charge.