FG dismisses claims of ethnic bias in helping Nigerians flee Sudan

The Federal Government of Nigeria has dismissed all claims of an ethnic discrimination in helping Nigerians flee troubled Sudan

A Nigerian in the country made a trending video in which he claimed that the planes coming to pick the Nigerian refugees left the igbos stranded there, a video which went viral online. 

However, Francisca Omayuli, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissed it all as a lie in a statement. According to her, the Nigerian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, reported that Igbo residents were in the first batch of evacuees to Egypt before being airlifted home.

They also claimed to have investigated the allegations of the Igbo-speaking Nigerian and found it false. 

The ministry, though, admitted that there was an earlier problem regarding the number of buses provided.  

The statement read: “The attention of the ministry of foreign affairs has been drawn to a video making the rounds on the social media of an unidentified man with no indication of his contact details nor location, claiming that the Nigerian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, refused to evacuate Igbo resident in Sudan.

“The ministry has investigated the allegation and can assure Nigerians that there is no truth whatsoever to the allegation.

“The Nigerian Embassy in Khartoum confirmed that evacuees of Igbo extraction were among the first batch of 637 Nigerians evacuated to Aswan Border, Egypt where they are presently awaiting their eventual return to Nigeria.

“It is, therefore, surprising that such a misleading allegation could be leveled against officials of the embassy who had worked tirelessly on the evacuation exercise.

“To this end, the general public is advised to disregard the allegation.”