Nigerians in Niger have beseeched the Federal Government to hasten up plans on evacuating them from the embattled Nigeriens and returning home before any war breaks out. The Nigerian who made this public on Saturday said the appeal became necessary so as to avoid being caught up in the line of fire and to avoid a repeat of what happened in Sudan where many Nigerian students were trapped when fighting broke out between the government forces and rebels.
The Economic Community of West Africa States had on Thursday agreed to deploy troops to Niger following the refusal of military leaders to restore democracy in its country, despite the sanctions imposed on them.
Reports have it that most Nigerians resident in Niger Republic were facing severe hardship as a result of the sanctions imposed on the country by ECOWAS Some of the Nigerians resident in Niger said the Nigeriens sympathetic to the junta had started reprimanding them for President Bola Tinubu’s support for the ECOWAS directive that its forces be on standby to invade the country, rout the coup plotters and re-enthrone Bazoum.
They are also apprehensive of being subjected to xenophobic attacks by Nigeriens in retaliation for Nigeria’s role in rallying other ECOWAS member states to reject the unconstitutional change of government in which the coup plotters overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.
When asked if there was any preparation to evacuate Nigerians that might be stranded in Niger Republic, the spokesperson for the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said, “We will evacuate Nigerians from Niger if it gets to that point; but for now, nothing is suggesting that.”
More so, the National Emergency Management Agency said the Federal Government would evacuate Nigerians who might be stranded in Niger when necessary.
The Director-General, of NEMA, Mustapha Habib, disclosed this while responding to questions on the sidelines of an event in Abuja on Friday, asked if Nigerians currently in Niger would be repatriated, particularly those who were willing, Habib replied in the affirmative but noted that the evacuation had not commenced yet.
It was gathered that some countries commenced the evacuation of their nationals from the Niger Republic last week. For instance, France’s military and foreign ministry worked to carry out multiple evacuation flights from Niger last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, West African military chiefs will meet today (Saturday) in Ghana in furtherance of moves to implement the ECOWAS resolutions on Niger Republic. According to France24, regional military sources said the talks among the defense chiefs will take place in Accra.
It added that following sub-regional leaders’ plans to have a standby force in their efforts to restore the toppled president, Russia on Friday warned against any military intervention in Niger.
