The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the
Federal Government to explore all diplomatic means
of rescuing the student arrested by the Turkish
Gvernment and resolve the issue. The House also mandated its committees on Foreign
Affairs, Diaspora Matters, Interior and Tertiary
Institutions to investigate the matter and report back
to the House in one week for further legislative
duties. The resolution of the House was sequel to the
passage of a motion sponsored by a member Hon.
Solomon Bulus Maren under matter of urgent
national Importance. Maren while moving the motion noted that 50
Nigerian students were illegally arrested and
detained on October 1st 2016 at the Instanbul Airport
on arrival to pursue their education. He noted he continuous humiliation of Nigerian
Students and nationals in various countries of the
world without any diplomatic intervention by the
Nigerian Government. “Recall the murder of a Nigerian student in Dubai
who was thrown from a multi- storey building, the
case of our dear sister Julie who is bedridden in a
rehabilitation home for the elderly and mentally ill
in Italy due to doctors torture and maltreatment . The
death of a Nigerian students and Nationals around the globe on flimsy excuses. The lawmaker recalled the July 15th failed Coup
in Turkey and the clampdown on 2099 schools,
dormitories and Universities and the allegations that
they were terrorist institutions due to,their links with
Islamic scholar Fetullar Gulten “whom the Turkish
Government has accused of being the mastermind of the failed coup in Turkey.” Maren expressed concern that some of the arrested
students are being humiliated and abused, while
some are sick and are being held in dark rooms. “Of the 102 countries that have students in that
university, only Nigerian students are being treated
in this manner, whereas other countries have sorted
out their’s diplomatically,” the lawmaker said. The Chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Hon. Nnena Elendu- Ukeje while
speaking on the matter said Nigeria will not
normally interfere in the internal workings of any
country especially when its in a situation that seem to
threaten their democracy. “As a country we also owe a responsibility to our
citizens to know exactly where they are or how their
doing in their host country. But we would draw the
line when it comes to that number of our citizens who
have been arrested in a foreign country and
especially charged with treason. “It is pretty heavy, and any responsible country and
parliament would want to find out exactly what the
true status is,mand that’s what we intend to do,
moving forward.” Also, the Chairman of the House Committee on
Diaspora Matters Hon. Rita Orji described the arrest
of the students as an assault on Nigerians. She said that the fact that’s were taken from the
airport to detention is an insult on the sovereignty of
Nigeria as a whole. According to her, it is not
enough to allege that the student may be linked to
schools that are supposedly linked with terrorism. She said it would have been better if the government
of Nigeria had been informed on the suspicion of
the Turkish government, rather than clamping
innocent Nigerian into detention. “I have to let Nigerians know that it is high time we
rose up to this challenge. So that people will know
that the life of every Nigerian student abroad
matter.”