Nigeria – Our students should not be victims of Turkey’s high-handedness and authoritarianism


Date posted: October 16, 2016

Nigeria Today Editorial Board

Diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Turkey may be strained over the ongoing harassment and deportation of some Nigerian students from Instanbul by the Turkish authorities. One of the students deported to Nigeria last week, Rukkaya Usman, a final year Political Science student at the University of Meliksah, said the Turkish government did not give a reason for the action. Usman, who arrived in Turkey to resume her studies on September 26 was held for ten hours and placed on a flight back to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye, has said that the Nigerian students who were arrested in Turkey may have been paying for the refusal of the Nigerian government to shut down Turkish schools and other institutions in Nigeria.  Also, 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 Fethullah Organisation, which the Turkish government has accused of responsibility for the coup attempt in the country in July. It was also reported that about 50 Nigerian students were arrested in Turkey last week over an alleged link to a suspected terrorist organisation in the country. Many of the Nigerians were said to be students of Fatih University, one of the schools shut down by the Turkish government after the failed coup attempt.

Following these developments, the Federal Government has summoned the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, also said that the Nigerian government has asked its Turkish counterpart to free the students.

We strongly condemn the arrest, detention and deportation of some Nigerian students from Turkey’s capital city, Istanbul, over the botched coup in the country. The harassment and intimidation of our students by the Turkish Government over a matter that does not concern them is undiplomatic and utterly reprehensible.

The Turkish government should not visit the punishment for the alleged actions of its political enemies on innocent Nigerian students. Our students should not be victims of that country’s high-handedness and authoritarianism.

It is good that the Nigerian government has summoned the Turkish envoy and demanded the release of the arrested students. Turkey should immediately release these students. What the Turkish government has done is against the spirit of diplomacy. Innocent Nigerian students should not be singled out for punishment for a crime they did not commit. The world should call President Recep Erdogan to order and curb his tendency towards dictatorship.

The Turkish leader should not use the failed coup as an excuse to punish his real and imagined enemies. This victimization of Nigerian students is wrong-headed and in bad taste. The arrogance of Turkey is becoming unbearable.

We call for a quick resolution of this matter. The Nigerian students, like all students everywhere, are vulnerable persons who deserve the protection of the authorities of any country in which they choose to study. Turkey should not be an exception. Since the government of that country has not made any specific charges against them, we demand that they are immediately released and allowed to go about their studies. Those who have been wrongly deported should be assisted by the government of that country to return to Istanbul to conclude their studies.

However, if all attempts at a peaceful resolution of this matter fails, the Nigerian government should not hesitate to invoke the doctrine of reciprocity against Turkey.

Source: Nigeria Today , October 16, 2016

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

Editorial: Expulsion of Turk Teachers from Pakistan

The point is that Turkish teachers have not committed any crime in Pakistan. Abrupt exodus of those teachers would destroy teaching system in Pak-Turk schools in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif should have considered the interest of citizens of Pakistan before submitting to unfair requests of Turkish government.

Fethullah Gülen’s message to PM Tayyip Erdoğan regarding consultants [in 2005]

Mehmet Gündem: If you were to write a letter or send a message to the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, what would you tell him? Fethullah Gülen: “Do not be content with employing consultants only from among the admirers of your party. Do not only speak with your own organizations. Benefit from the wise people who love Turkey; because they act objectively, and seek no personal gain.”

Abduction of Kacmaz Family – The dark side

They travel in groups now, never alone; and each time the doorbell rings, they dread the worst. Their homes are beco­ming emptier; personal possessions are being sold off. The Turkish community here is scared.

Ongoing political raids against schools and businesses are unconstitutional

Inspectors from the tax, finance, fire, social security, environment and urbanization, food, agriculture and husbandry bureaus were brought to the school with Smuggling and Organized Crime Police while the students were in session. Such raids have occurred repeatedly across the educational institutions’ branches, along with other schools, on an almost daily basis.

The Coup Attempt – Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Once forces loyal to Turkish President Erdogan had put the attempted takeover down, he called the coup attempt “a gift from God” because it provided an excuse to crack down on competitors and opponents. Using enemies lists prepared well in advance, his purges have touched more than 100,000 and sparked widespread conspiracies among Turks that the July 15 coup was Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire.

Taliban Shuts Down Turkish Schools in Afghanistan

Kate Clark Taleban shuts more Afghan schools BBC reported that Taleban shut down schools opened by Gulen Movement in Afghanistan. Schools were providing contemperary education for free. Girls and women are hard hit by the Taleban’s stance on education. Below is the story by BBC. Six schools run by a Turkish Islamic group have been […]

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

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

In Case You Missed It

Tamsil: The inadvertent overspill of internalization

Hakan Şükür’s resignation blamed on lack of intra-party democracy

Turks, Rio de Janeiro gov’t sign agreement to further education efforts in Brazil

Hate speech and its impact on the movement (1)

Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Gülen discounts neither past nor modernity

Turkey’s Curious Coup – positions of the Turkish Government, Gulen Movement and Turkey’s Western allies

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News