Turkish govt begins massive deportation of Nigerian students


Date posted: October 1, 2016

Fredrick Nwabufo

The Turkish government has commenced a massive deportation of Nigerian students resident in the country, TheCable can report.

Rukkaya Usman, a Nigerian student deported from the country, said the Turkish government does not give a reason for the action.

Usman, a final year student of political science and international relations at the University of Meliksah, told TheCable on Saturday that she arrived in Turkey at 8am on September 26, but that she was detained at the airport for about 10 hours after which she was funnelled into an aircraft for a flight back to Nigeria.

“As I got to the airport, at the immigration; they (immigration) collected my passport and resident permit. They started to ask me questions like: ‘what are you studying?’ ‘What’s your father’s name?’ They took my passport. This was on September 26. I asked what was happening. But they said they didn’t know, that it was a new law, that they were sending me back to my country,” she narrated.

“They said if I had any questions I should go to my embassy and ask. I was put in a room. There were about seven other people. We were locked up in the room; there were cameras. We were not allowed to talk to anyone. I was told that my next flight was at 6pm. I asked for my passport, but they said I would get it when I get to my country.

“They took me to the plane, and they watched me as I boarded the aircraft.”

TheCable understands that the Turkish government is in a drive to deport all Nigerian students at universities linked to Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet movement.

Gulen is an Islamic cleric whom President Recep Erdogan of Turkey considers as his strongest rival.

After the botched July 15 coup, Erdogan launched a massive crackdown on the investments of Gulen’s followers.

He blamed Gulen for the coup, but the cleric has denied the allegation.

A few weeks after the coup, the Turkish government asked the Nigerian government to shut down all the schools which had affinity with Gulen. But the Nigerian government did not oblige them.

The Turkish government has now resorted to deporting Nigerian students resident in the country.

THISDAY earlier reported how 50 students were arrested and detained.

Source: The Cable , October 1, 2016

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

13 recommendations to MGK secretary for inclusion in ‘Red Book’

The president pays attention to the current National Security Council (MGK). He is determined to declare Hizmet a terror organization. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is not interested in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kobani, Syria, the approximately 3 million refugees and the murder of 40 people in violent protests. His only concern is Hizmet. Given that the MGK is designed to be a place to discuss personal concerns, I, as a citizen, would like to raise some points of recommendation for the MGK secretary-general for possible inclusion on the agenda of the council.

Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric – BBC’s interview with Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen has been called Turkey’s second most powerful man. He is also a recluse, who lives in self-imposed exile in the US.

Neither Erdoğan nor EU the same after five years

Erdoğan is going to Brussels as the prime minister of Turkey who doesn’t even have ambassadors in three of its region’s important capital; Cairo, Tel Aviv and Damascus. A negotiation chapter was opened in November 2013 after a three-year freeze. Erdoğan had to sack the former EU minister from the cabinet because of the allegations in relation with a major graft probe in December 2013 and appointed Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to that post.

Top union: Closing prep schools to leave 60,000 jobless

Turkey’s largest business confederation, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), has said a government plan to shut down private exam preparatory schools (dershanes) will leave an estimated 60,000 teachers at these institutions jobless while causing financial losses to investors.

TUSKON says systematic campaign of defamation is under way

The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists’ (TUSKON) has criticized what it said a systematic campaign of defamation against the business conglomolarete, stressing that its business activities that help contribute to Turkish economy should only be welcomed.

Turkish Gov’t Seizes 965 Gülen Movement Affiliated Firms With $11.3 Billion Worth

Turkish Deputy PM Nurettin Canikli said on Friday that the Turkish government has seized 965 companies which were affiliated to the Gülen movement. The value of assets belonging to companies seized by the Turkish state during the ongoing state of emergency is also announced as nearly 41 billion Turkish Liras, around $11.3 billion.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Gülen calls on corrupt politicians to confess their sins, beg forgiveness

Prosecutors conducting ‘terror’ probe of prominent Turkish charity

EP condemns media crackdown in name of rule of law, press freedom

Imam Sytari praises Gulen as a global thinker

11th Int’l Turkish Olympiads kick off in İstanbul

British law firm hired by AK Party gov’t launches defamation campaign against Gülen movement

Nine decades later, Hizmet gives back to Karachi

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News