The Air Peace flight carrying over 270 Nigerian students from the Aswan Airport in Egypt has landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Departed from Egypt, Nigerian evacuees arrive on board an Air Peace plane after fleeing conflict-torn Sudan.
The NAF C-130H jet also conveying about 80 persons also touched down moments later.
After over a week of assurances by the Federal Government, the Nigerian evacuees were finally airlifted home, escaping the deadly conflict in Sudan.
Since April 15, Sudan has been plunged into armed conflict with clashes between rival factions of the North African nation’s military government breaking out in western Sudan, in the capital city of Khartoum, and in the Darfur region.
Hundreds have since been killed while thousands of others have suffered injuries.
For nearly two weeks, the Nigerian government assured concerned citizens of evacuation plans, ultimately facilitating buses to convey Nigerians out of Sudan with a Nigerian Air Force plane deployed for the operation.
The evacuees arrived at the airport in the midst of heavy security presence, including mostly wingmen of the Nigerian Air Force.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Farouk; the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa; and the Director General of the National Management Emergency Agency (NEMA), Ahmed Mustapha, were at the airport to receive the students.
Farouk said the returnees would be given N100,000 each to enable them settle in, adding that a full press briefing on the issues surrounding the evacuation had been scheduled for later on Thursday.
The NEMA boss also noted that four aircraft were expected to arrive on Thursday, adding that they would convey almost 400 persons. According to him, Azman Air has joined Air Peace in the evacuation effort.
During their ordeal, three Nigerian students trapped in Sudan, Lukman Abdulhayatu, Bilyaminu Muhammad and Bashiru Achida, shared their experiences, describing the situation as catastrophic.
Speaking to Channels Television last week, Abdulhayatu said he woke up on the morning of Saturday, April 22 to “heavy bombings and fire everywhere”, adding that “it is catastrophic”.
Muhammad, who stated that he had been in his room for three days, disclosed he had never heard the sound of a gun in his life until the experience in Sudan.
“This is my first experience,” he said. “I had only seen it in the movies.”
Bus Mishap And Discrimination Claims
On Monday, there were reports that one of the buses conveying the Nigerians from Khartoum suffered a burst tyre on its way to Port Sudan.
Confirming the incident, NIDCOM’s Head, Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said, “It was a tyre that got burst. No bus caught fire.”
All nine Nigerian students on the bus were confirmed to have arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday.
According to a source from the Sudan evacuees’ situation room, the students joined another bus sent by the transport company.
In a separate incident, a viral video of a man claimed that the Nigerian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan had refused to evacuate people of Igbo extraction from Sudan.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, upon investigation, there was “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 said.
“In addition, the Embassy noted that before the commencement of the movement of buses deployed for the evacuation exercise in Khartoum, there were scuffles between the students and other Nigerian residents due to the limited number of buses.
“However, more buses were made available to accommodate every Nigerian national in Sudan who indicated interest to be evacuated.”