Nigerian federal gov’t on arrested students: Turkey on a vendetta mission


Date posted: October 4, 2016

Folashade Adebayo

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye, has said that the Nigerian students who were arrested in Turkey for an alleged role in the July coup attempt in Turkey may have been paying for the refusal of the Nigerian government to shut down some Turkish schools and institutions in Nigeria.

This was just as the Charge D’Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Turkey, Ibrahim Isah, said that two Nigerian students had been in detention for more than two months at the Silivri Prisons in Istanbul, Turkey, for allegedly being members of the Fethulla Terrorist Organisation, a group said to be responsible for the coup attempt in Turkey.

Some 50 Nigerians studying in Turkey were reportedly arrested on Friday for an alleged link to a terrorist organisation in the country. Many of the Nigerians were said to be students of Fatih University, one of thousands of schools shut down by the Turkish government after the July failed coup attempt.

But in a submission made to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and obtained by our correspondent on Monday, Enikanolaye said the plight of the Nigerian students might not be unconnected with the refusal of the Federal Government to close down some schools in Nigeria, “as arrogantly demanded by the Turkish Government.”

He wrote, “Surely, accusing the students of links to a terrorist organisation is serious, even though we know the state of paranoid that has beset the leadership of Turkey following the failed coup attempt.

“Our students seem to have been caught in the web of internal politics of Turkey and the clampdown on FETO that was accused of the coup.

“This has severely fractured the country, putting it on collision course with the civilised members of the international community.

“The action against our students must have been a reaction to our refusal to close Turkish schools and institutions in Nigeria, as arrogantly demanded by the Turkish Government.’’

Also in a report sent to Onyeama, Isah said two Nigerian students — Hassan Danjuma Adamu, and Muhammad Alhaji Abdullahi — who are on the scholarship of the Yobe State government, had completed their programmes and were waiting for their certificates before their arrest.

According to Isah, the Nigerians’ offence was that they were living in a hostel facilitated by the International Students Association, an organisation believed by the Turkish government to have links with FETO.

‘’According to Mohammad, they were preparing to vacate the hostel on that fateful day, having heard that the so-called International Students’ Association was being linked to FETO and that the hostel was under investigation.

“Unfortunately for them, the hostel was raided before they could move out. They believed that the police were given prior information of the presence of foreign students in the hostel. After, the raid, nothing implicating was found on them except three religious books that the police believe was incriminating.

“Both denied the ownership of the books, which seemed to put to bed any doubts in the minds of the police that they were members of FETO. Thus, they were immediately arrested and taken to the police station for interrogation and subsequently transferred to Silivri Prisons.”

Source: Punch , October 3, 2016


Related News

Democracy is vanishing in Turkey, specialist says

Zeynalov reminded the attendees that Erdogan also was arrested a couple of decades ago. That eventually helped him to become famous and won him the elections five years later. But it didn’t stop Erdogan to use the same law for justifying the arrest of Zeynalov in 2014.

Does Erdogan really want Gulen in Turkey?

General assumption is that Erdogan is indeed playing a cynical game with the Gulen issue, and also involving the United States in this, in a populist effort aimed at his own constituency in the lead-up to the presidential elections in August, where he is expected to run.

Plot against Gülen movement put into action based on lies, false confessions

An alleged secret plot against members of the faith-based Gülen movement — inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, which became public last year, is being put into action step by step based on questionable testimonies obtained from secret witnesses, informants and anonymous complainants leading to criminal prosecutions apparently orchestrated by political authorities.

Detained woman, newborn baby transferred to police station 240 km away from home

Detained hours after giving birth at a private hospital in İstanbul early on Tuesday, Ayşe Kaya has been transferred to a police station in Edirne, a northwestern province some 240 kilometers away from home.

Hizmet’s approach to politics and politicians

Hizmet movement gets its strength from this independence. Because the movement gets money from no other sources than its own volunteers, it does not take orders. No doubt this is why certain people are made so uncomfortable right now by the Hizmet movement.

Teacher arrested after repairman found Gülen’s audio CD in computer

A Samsun teacher, identified as Osman K., was detained after a repairman found in his computer a CD that features speeches by Fethullah Gulen. The audio CD, titled Kalbin Miraci, featured faith-based sermons Gulen delivered at mosques in Turkey in the past.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

What else should Gülen say?

Picture of Turkish president Erdogan as Hitler projected onto Berlin embassy

Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement Discussed at German Symposium

Fethullah Gülen: alleged coup mastermind – and friendly neighbor

Are ambassadors propaganda officials for the ruling party?

TUSKON’s Meral tells Turkish firms in Germany to open to world

‘Ankara no longer producing laws compatible with EU norms’

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News