Nigerian parents have been warned to stop sending their children to universities in Northern Cyprus due to the incessant and mysterious killing of Nigerians, an official said on Monday.
According to the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Abike Dabiri-Erewa, it was too risky to send children to the schools in Northern Cyprus as hundreds of Nigerian students had been killed there mysteriously without any conclusive investigations carried out.
Dabiri-Erewa said this when she received in her office, a delegation led by Justice Amina Bello, mother of a Nigerian student, Ibrahim Khaleel, who was allegedly killed in inexplicable circumstances in that country.
She stressed that the death of Khaleel, a third-year engineering student, had brought to a tipping point the incessant killing of Nigerian students in Northern Cyprus under baffling circumstances.
According to her, 15 names of Nigerians from a list of more than 100 who were killed in Northern Cyprus, said it was difficult to employ international diplomacy in investigation as the country is only recognised by Turkey.
“The death of Ibrahim Khaleel should be the tipping point to a stop in the killing of our children anywhere in the world, particularly Northern Cyprus.
“It is not only Ibrahim. Kennedy Dede, 28; Augustine Ngok, Gabriel Sorewei, Osabanjo Owoyale, Augustine Wallace, Stanley Eteno, Hassan Babatunde, Temitayo Adigun, and Kubat Abraham are just a few of the ones that we even know.
“The problem is that most Nigerian parents do not know that Northern Cyprus is not recognised by any country in the world.
“It is not a UN-recognised country. It is only recognised by Turkey. That is why we have not been able to do much.
Who do you report to? Thousands of Nigerian students are schooling there and I tell you that hundreds have been killed. Who do you take these cases to?
“And they are killed in similar circumstances. The school just tells you, ‘Well, they committed suicide,’ and nothing happens.