demands action from NASS, NSA, Foreign Affairs Ministry

… wants detailed explanation for delay in evacuation

By Fortune Eromosele, Abuja

Following the conflict in Sudan, the Coalition of Northern Groups, has chided the federal government, saying that they are complacent over stranded Nigerians in Sudan.

This was contained in a statement by the CNG Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in Abuja on Monday, where the group demanded action from the National Assembly, National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

CNG further demanded a detailed explanation to Nigerians for the delay in evacuation.

The statement read in part: “The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG is extremely saddened and concerned by reports that about 4,000 Nigerians trapped in Sudan have not been evacuated.

“We are also worried by reports of the inhuman and exploitative treatment those who manage to arrive at Cairo and Ethiopian borders 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.

“A responsible and responsive government would by now have reached out to the authorities in Cairo and Addis Ababa to secure easy passage for the stranded Nigerians who have managed to arrive at their borders.”

On its demands, the CNG said, “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 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 urgent and safe evacuation of Nigerians who are mainly northerners trapped between Khartoum, Ethiopia and Egypt.

“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 demand a full explanation for the delay in evacuation of Nigerians, mostly northerners, from Sudan while those trapped in Ukraine were treated with a sense of urgency and responsibility.

“We urge more action by Nigeria as the mother of Africa in managing the conflict in Sudan and not to abandon a sister African nation to the machinations of evil foreign powers.

“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.”