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Cosmas Omegoh
Hundreds of Nigerians stranded in India following the outbreak of COVID-19 in that country have been crying out to President Muhammadu Buhari, praying him to intervene and facilitate their return home.
Our correspondent gathered that a sizable number of Nigerians resident in India wants to return home, but they are unable to do so due to the restriction of flights. Among the citizens crying to come back home are many who travelled to India for medical tourism but were caught up by the COVID-19 pandemic, students in various tertiary institutions across India, businessmen among others.
Many of the citizens who had run out of cash and other supplies were said to have been stranded, with some begging for food and money just to survive amid the challenge brought by Coronavirus which is currently ravaging the Indian sub-continent.
It was further gathered that those of them who sent a Save-Our-Soul message home and have had some money sent to them were unable to assess the cash because of the lockdown imposed on the country as part of measures to curtail the spread of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.
The distraught citizens are unhappy that a few days ago, an Air Peace flight touched down in India bringing home scores of Indians who wished to return home. But rather than taking home Nigerians who were in dire straits, the flight jetted back home with some army personnel attending a course. They contended that if the Federal Government had made the necessary arrangements, the flight could have hauled many Nigerians home at a minimum cost. They urgently want the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema, to initiate urgent steps aimed at saving the citizens from pain and anguish.
Among the hundreds of stranded Nigerians, our correspondent gathered are Sambo Umar Abubakar, a businessman from Zamfara State and his wife, Hausanna. Abubakar was said to have been involved in a motor accident last year and was at the point of losing both legs. After his treatment in hospitals in the country, he was airlifted to India at the invitation of a hospital, W. Pratiksha, in Gurgaon, with a firm promise that Abubakar would walk again
Sambo was accompanied by his wife Hausanna. Since he was involved in the accident, he had spent a fortune after selling off his belongings in order to secure his health.
“We arrived here on February 18, 2020,” he said in a telephone conversation with our correspondent. “It has been a traumatic experience. I was discharged to go home three months ago, but we cannot make it. We have been here doing nothing. Every kobo we brought to India has been exhausted. We were thrown out of our hotel amid the raging Coronavirus. We are at the mercy of everything. Only God is keeping us here.
“We need urgent help. Please let this cry for help go out to the Federal Government and President Buhari so that they will help us. Our situation here is pitiable,” he said.
His wife, Hausanna, told our correspondent that they had Emirate Airline return ticket, which is more of a useless paper all because the flights are not operating.
Said: “We have been billed to return to Nigeria on two occasions but the effort ended as easily as they were made.
“The Indian government said we would not be allowed to go home until we were tested for Coronavirus. Already, we have been tested and luckily our results were negative. Yet, we cannot travel home.
“Just days ago, an Air Peace flight arrived here with many Indians in Nigeria wishing to return home. When the news filtered out, we were jubilant that the aircraft would take us home, but we were wrong. The flight returned home with some members of the Nigerian Army who were said to be attending a course here. Honestly, we need urgent help. We are living at the mercy of Indians.
“There are lots of others here – many Nigerians. We need urgent help; we need to return home.”
Another stranded Nigerian, in a tweet he directed to Minister Onyeama, Abike Dabiri-Erewa and the Presidential Taskforce on CoVID-19 said: Sir, help us return home. Three times in a row, it was said that our Indian evacuation will be postponed.
“After we carried out our Covid-19 test, many travelled 16-24 hours for June 04 departure. We are now a laughing stock in India.”
It was learnt that in their desperation to return home, stranded Nigerians had pressured the Nigerian High Commission in Indian to make some moves. The mission was said to have set up a chat platform https://chat.whatsapp.com/ijW6edb8Z53KxAU2eBG to coordinate those desperate to return home.
The mission directed all stranded citizens to join the group to confirm Nigerians who had paid to for their evacuation. A directive bearing the name of one of the mission’s officials, Eva Aigbogun, had warned that “The High Commission reserves the right to remove anyone who joins the group without payment,” thereby confirming Federal Government’s earlier insistence that Nigerians wishing to return home must pay for their passage.
