Hope Rises for Nigerian Students Trapped in Sudan as Air Peace Comes to their Rescue

Hope Rises for Nigerian Students Trapped in Sudan as Air Peace Comes to their Rescue

Respite came the way of the about 5,000 students trapped in the war in Sudan as Air Peace Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has offered to help evacuate them from the war-torn country. Coming at a time the federal government of Nigeria appears to have thrown up its hands up in helplessness,

Respite came the way of the about 5,000 students trapped in the war in Sudan as Air Peace Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has offered to help evacuate them from the war-torn country.

Coming at a time the federal government of Nigeria appears to have thrown up its hands up in helplessness, Mr. Onyema on Monday said that Nigerian students and others stranded in war-ravaged Sudan have urgent “needs for our help.”

In a statement he released, Mr. Onyema said: “Again, Air Peace is willing to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge if the government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan. Everything must not be left for the government and government alone,” Onyema said.

“It will be a privilege and honour of tremendous pride that we will be out there to give every Nigerian stranded in Sudan a sense of pride and oneness in their country.”

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Sunday while answering question on a television station monitored in Lagos, foreclosed the possibility of any flight rescue mission to Sudan but promised the possibility of moving the stranded students to safe neighbouring countries.

The Nigerian government has responded quickly to the rescue offer and has requested the services of bus services to take the stranded students to Cairo, Egypt where they could board the Air Peace aircraft for the safe return home.

Why we’ve not evacuated stranded Nigerian students – FG

The Federal Government says it is waiting for the Sudanese Government to give assurance before evacuating Nigerian Students from Sudan.The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said the Nigerian Government said the responsibility of the Nigerian Government is to ensure that it has the full backing of the Government of Sudan before evacuation to avoid risking the lives of Nigerians.

“I don’t think we are sluggish; the countries evacuated yesterday and a day before, no government had evacuated before then. The reason is that it is not as if there was a military war against another country.

“The President and the Vice President of a country started shouting at each other. Of Course, it started getting worse and that is why countries started looking at evacuating their people. The advantage these people have, the US, Italy, and France, have is that they don’t have 5,000 citizens in Sudan like Nigeria.

The crisis in Sudan escalated on April 16, 2023, as an infighting between two Generals. The Generals of the Sudanese Army, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan and a group known as Rapid Support Forces, RSF, led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have been at loggerheads escalating into a severe crisis in the capital, Khartoum.

The conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Force (RSF), has claimed over 400 lives with about 3,500 injured. The clashes have also displaced thousands of civilians, who have fled the capital, Khartoum.

Ayo Aluko-Olokun
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