One of the ex-militants who invaded the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow has explained that the picture of the Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, allegedly hung conspicuously at the diplomatic mission triggered Monday’s mayhem.
The ex-militant, who identified himself as Anthony Hilary, said in an email to our correspondent that the students did not like the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan’s picture was not displayed in the conference room of the mission.
Russian police arrested sixteen of the students after they received an alert from the embassy about the invasion.
Hilary said that 21 out of 24 Niger Delta students on scholarship had gone to the embassy to protest their alleged maltreatment by the amnesty committee.
He said that when they arrived at the embassy, they noticed a billboard of the Sokoto governor and felt bad about it.
“We destroyed the furniture in the embassy because we saw the billboard of the Sokoto State governor very large in the embassy. As students from the Niger Delta region, we see it as betrayal, and uncalled for to hang the portrait of Governor Aliyu Wamako in the conference hall of the embassy.
“The governor as we understood is one of the G7 governors who are rebellious to the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan whom we believed is the brain behind our studentship and our own brother in the oil producing region. We decided to break the billboard and destroy it. Such advert with that capacity of billboard should only carry the image of our dear president and not a governor,” he said.
Hilary stated that the embassy ignored their pleas that two students needed medical attention.
He also accused the mission of failing to account for over $15,000 meant for their tuition.
He said that after the protest, the Defence Attache, Air Commodore OluRotimi A.Ogunjobi, provided them with transport money and urged the students to leave the embassy premises. He said they decided to sleep there overnight as it was late.
He also said that their leader asked five of their colleagues to go and get food for the group.
Hilary recalled that around 9:45 pm Russian time, about 30 policemen drove in through the back door of the embassy and bundled sixteen of them into a Black Maria.
He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene and ensure their immediate release.
He also called for a probe of their allegations and an overhaul of the education department of the amnesty office.
Efforts by Daily Times to obtain comments from the embassy failed as several calls to its lines on Wednesday were not answered.
Culled From Daily Times
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