……Appreciates God over safety of Nigerians after evacuation bus bursted into flame
A Frontline Edo State governorship aspirant, Hon.(Dr) Joseph Ikpea has congratulated the federal government for the steps taken at evacuating thousands of stranded Nigerians from Sudan after one week of intense fighting in the country.
He further joined families of 50 evacuated Nigerians whose bus bursted into flame as they were leaving Sudan in the early hours of Monday, to thank God for their safety as no life was lost during the incident.
In his congratulatory message, Hon. Ikpea said it was God’s Mercy that the 50 Nigerians where not hurt during the incident and call on the Nigeria government to do everything possible to bring all Nigerian students in Sudan back home safely.
Parts of his message read as; ” I sincerely congratulates the Nigeria Government over the timely intervention and steps geared towards the evacuation of thousands of Nigerians stranded in the war turn Sudan, this steps obviously show high sense of responsibility of the President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government, at ensuring and protecting the wellbeing of it’s citizens.
” As a father, I equally feel the fear and panic experience by the students and their parents as the intense fighting erupted in Sudan. I also thank them for the display of discipline not to get involved in the fight by avoiding any injury or casualty. I rejoice with the students who escaped the bus fire in the early hours of Monday, and also rejoice with their families, I commend the students for their courage to escape from the fire without sustaining any injury.
“And I thank God for keeping safe and sound despite the panic and stress occasion by the ugly situation. I can not thank God enough for bringing you out successfully from the war zone and from the fire incident, I wouldn’t be able to get over any loss of lives should it be worse than this. I also want to use this opportunity to call on the Nigeria government to do everything possible to bring all Nigerian students in Sudan back home safely in due time. He said.
Recall, One of the buses conveying stranded Nigerians from the capital of Sudan, Khartoum to Port Sudan where they will move into Saudi Arabia caught fire early Monday.
Twenty-six buses were transporting the stranded Nigerians left at Al Razi around 12:am on Monday for Port Sudan.
A witness of the ugly experience disclosed this adding that all the passengers escaped without injuries, according to DT.
“One of the buses conveying some 50 Nigerian students from Sudan with a tag number (Katsina 1) heading to Port Sudan as part of the second batch of FGN evacuation got damaged due to excessive heat from one of the vehicle’s tyres.
“Dr Hashim Idris Na’Allah, the chairman of the Nigerian Elders’ Forum in Sudan, was one of the passengers in the said bus, which contained a total of 50 students (49 males, 1 female).
“The incident happened around 2:30 am Sudan time.
“The driver stopped the bus near an RSF checkpoint, just before the tire exploded causing a fire to start.
“All the passengers escaped unhurt.
“Forty out of the 50 passengers were later distributed to the other buses evacuating the students, while the remaining passengers spent the night where the incident happened alongside the driver at the RSF checkpoint.
“The students said the RSF really did their possible best to help the passengers and offered them with cups of tea in the morning before they left,” Sani Aliyu who is in Sudan disclosed.
They have, however, continued their journey to Port Sudan, DT said.
Over 1000 Nigerians are being evacuated through the Port Sudan channel following the difficulties faced in getting the first batch of evacuees across the Egypt borders.
The stranded Nigerians have spent five days at the borders as the Egyptian officials denied them access into the country where flights are already waiting to airlift them to Nigeria.