The Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that some nationals, who turned out to be Igbo, were asked to come down from evacuation buses in Sudan, noting that the issue had been resolved.
The government meanwhile denied claims that the country’s embassy in Khartoum, the capital of war-torn Sudan, refused to evacuate Nigerians who are of the Igbo ethnic group.
SaharaReporters had on Tuesday reported that some stranded Nigerians in warring Sudan accused officials of the Nigerian embassy in the evacuation exercise of discriminating against the Igbo.
In a viral video, seen by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, a Nigerian of Igbo descent was seen lamenting the level of discrimination against Igbos in a foreign land to the extent that after entry into evacuation buses, they were allegedly asked to come down in Sudan.
He had claimed that Nigerian authorities evacuated stranded Nigerians in war-torn Sudan by state of Origin and left Igbos behind.
The man in viral video had stated that they were asked to come down from the bus that conveyed other stranded Nigerians from other ethnic groups on Saturday and Sunday to Egypt.
The young man in the video had however appealed to wealthy Igbo men to come to their aide.
However, the Nigerian government denied the allegations, describing the account as false.
The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Francisca Omayuli, on Wednesday, urged the general public to disregard the allegation.
Omayuli said that it had investigated the allegation and found it to be false, adding that Igbos were among the first batch of 637 Nigerians evacuated to Aswan Border, Egypt.
According to Daily Post, she, however, admitted that Igbo were asked to come down from evacuation buses but it wasn’t deliberate, noting that the issue had been resolved.
“More buses were made available to accommodate every Nigerian national in Sudan who indicated interest to be evacuated.
“It is, therefore, surprising that such a misleading allegation could be levelled against officials of the Embassy who had worked tirelessly on the evacuation exercise,” she added.