NEWS
Hundreds Of Nigerians Remain Stranded In Sudan
It has been more than two months since a conflict erupted in Sudan, and some Nigerians are still awaiting assistance from the national government to repatriate them from the troubled country.
Henry Akwari, a Nigerian professional footballer in Sudan, has expressed the uncertainty surrounding the situation of numerous Nigerians who are still trapped in Sudan.
Private airlines collaborated with the foreign ministry to evacuate over 3,000 Nigerians during the initial weeks of Sudan’s internal strife.
Many believed that all individuals requiring assistance had been successfully relocated from the war-ravaged nation. However, it has now come to light that a number of Nigerians are presently marooned in the country.
“I have been playing professional football in Sudan since 2016,” Akwari told The Punch on Sunday.
“I’m from Imo State, born and brought up in Lagos State. Though I have played for different teams within the past six years, I currently play for Alwadi Nyala.
“Before the war started, there was no indication and there was no announcement that there was going to be a war. It was a normal day, and as a footballer, I had to travel with my team because we had a match and the league was going on. I left the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, just a day before the war started.
“Due to the breakout of war, we couldn’t play the match we went for; we couldn’t travel, and we were stuck. The first evacuation started in Khartoum, and when this was happening, those of us outside Khartoum couldn’t come inside. That was why I was unable to come to Khartoum for the evacuation.”
The 30-year-old footballer said that he took a risk to travel from his residence in Agbara to Port Sudan because he heard that the government was evacuating Nigerians there.
Akwari said that he was not the only footballer or professional of Nigerian citizenship stuck in Port Sudan. They all missed the evacuation deadline because they had travelled from distant locations and avoided getting caught up in the violence from Khartoum.
“From the camp here and the other camps, I believe we are roughly 350. Let me not say we are more than this. Three hundred and fifty Nigerians are here; yes,” Akwari told The Punch.
“For the men, we are in the same camp, while the women are in another camp. We are all camped in an abandoned school here in Port Sudan.
“When I got here, even the embassy knew me well enough. I have tried talking to them to know what exactly the problem is, but the ambassador keeps assuring us that we will leave. Now, we know we will leave, but when exactly are we leaving? They have refused to tell us the day we are leaving. It is either they tell us that they don’t have clearance or tell us that there’s no plane or that the government has not sent funds.
“We don’t know why they kept giving us different answers. When we had a meeting with them (the embassy), they told us we would leave but they didn’t know if it would be in a month’s time or after a month. Meanwhile, we have stayed here for over a month and they are still giving us words that indicate that they don’t know when we would leave. We have lost hope. I won’t lie to you. We are just trying to be strong.”
Akwari spoke of the psychological toll the helpless situation had forced on the stranded evacuees.
He painted a painful picture of people resorting to criminality to survive within the camps.
“People are not working, and they have started to steal from one another. It is just like a fight to survive the situation. This is terrible. We also have information that ladies in their camps have started getting involved in prostitution just to ensure that they feed themselves. A lot of things are happening but people just want to survive,” Akwari said.
“Also, Port Sudan is so expensive; a bottle of water here goes for 1,000 Sudanese pounds. The item was normally sold for 300 Sudanese pounds. How do we eat and survive in this situation?
“At the moment, in Port Sudan, there’s no war. The security is tight but outside Port Sudan, there’s a terrible war going on out there and we can only pray that it doesn’t get here. We have been receiving many security alerts that they have been trying to break into Port Sudan. Last week, they caught a container filled with ammunition belonging to the Rapid Support Forces in Port Sudan here. We heard they brought them (ammunition) in through the sea and all of that.
“The only thing you do is not going anywhere. It is the only way we know that our lives can be protected, because there are soldiers everywhere. Some of us ran out of the war zone without our passports and walking around in the war zone without that is at your own risk. Anything can happen at any time, and it is not safe. The only thing we do is that we pray more and try to stay together all the time. That’s what we do.
“The ambassador had a lengthy talk (a few days ago) and his last word was that the embassy was with us, the Nigerian Government was with us and we would go home, but he did not tell us when we would go home. That was the last conversation.”
Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has called on traditional rulers to strengthen their collaboration with the government and security agencies to tackle insecurity and protect farmers, traders and other residents across the state.
Radda made the appeal during a meeting with the District Head of Bakori, Alhaji Garba Tukur Idris, Makaman Katsina, and other traditional leaders in Bakori Local Government Area.
The engagement, which formed part of activities of the Tinubu–Dikko 2027 Campaign Council, was disclosed in a statement issued on November 1, 2026, by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed.
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The governor said traditional institutions remained essential to efforts to achieve lasting security and development, particularly because of their influence and close relationship with local communities.
“Government cannot achieve sustainable security and grassroots development without the active cooperation of traditional rulers, community elders and other local stakeholders,” Radda said.
He urged traditional leaders to work more closely with security agencies and other community stakeholders to address security threats and strengthen peace across their respective communities.
“Your role in maintaining peace and order in our communities is very important. We need your cooperation to address security challenges and advance development at the grassroots,” he added.
Radda also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to protecting lives and property, strengthening security operations and ensuring farmers could access their farmlands while traders conducted their businesses without fear.
He called for a coordinated approach involving traditional rulers, security agencies, political leaders, youths and women, stressing the importance of collective action in tackling insecurity and creating economic opportunities.
In his response, the District Head of Bakori, Garba Tukur Idris, welcomed the governor and his delegation, commending the engagement and the relationship between the government and traditional institutions.
Idris identified agriculture, trading and commerce as the major economic activities in Bakori, while highlighting the area’s skilled and unskilled labour force, dams and boreholes as resources that could support increased agricultural productivity and attract investment.
He also commended the cooperation among traditional institutions, local government authorities, security agencies and residents in maintaining peace, urging stakeholders to sustain the collaboration to protect their communities.
The Chairman of Bakori Local Government Area, Musa Abubakar Barde, said the delegation was also in the area to seek the blessings and support of traditional rulers and community stakeholders for the Tinubu–Dikko 2027 campaign.
The delegation included Deputy Governor Faruk Lawal; Campaign Director-General, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa; Campaign Council Co-Chairman, Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa; Deputy Director-General, Abdulkadir Mamman Nasir; and Secretary-General, Abdullahi Aliyu Turaji, among others.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has defended President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 campaign promise to ensure stable electricity supply and end estimated billing, saying his administration is taking steps to address longstanding challenges in the power sector.
In a press statement, the council urged Nigerians to consider the full context of Tinubu’s campaign remarks, arguing that some recent public commentary had reproduced his electricity pledge without including his concluding qualification.
Tinubu had made the promise during a meeting with members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Lagos ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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At the meeting, he assured Nigerians that his administration would tackle the country’s electricity challenges and end estimated billing.
“Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept,” Tinubu said.
He also stated that if he failed to fulfil the promise before seeking a second term, Nigerians should not vote for him unless he provided adequate reasons for his inability to deliver.
The council said the President’s pledge should be assessed alongside the administration’s record since 2023, particularly its interventions in electricity generation, metering, infrastructure and market stability.
It acknowledged that resolving Nigeria’s power sector crisis remained unfinished but maintained that Tinubu’s commitment to addressing the challenges had not diminished.
Highlighting the administration’s reforms, the council said Tinubu signed the Electricity Act, 2023, on June 9, less than two weeks after assuming office.
According to the statement, the legislation liberalised the electricity sector, allowing state governments to participate in electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
It listed Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger among states that had established their electricity regulatory agencies to take advantage of the new framework and attract private investment.
The council also said the administration had taken on more than ₦6 trillion in accumulated legacy debts in the power sector between 2015 and 2025.
It added that the government introduced the Presidential Metering Initiative to address a metering gap of more than seven million customers.
According to the statement, more than 1.5 million electricity customers have been metered under the initiative in the last three years.
The council further highlighted the administration’s electricity tariff adjustments, describing them as necessary to restore liquidity to the electricity market, while noting that measures had been introduced to protect low-income households.
On rural electrification, it said the Rural Electrification Agency had connected universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power.
The government has also unveiled plans to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre, which was built more than 60 years ago, and construct an East-West super grid to strengthen transmission infrastructure.
The statement further disclosed that the administration established a ₦4 trillion bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies (Gencos) and gas companies (Gascos).
It said the first and second tranches of the programme had raised more than ₦1.2 trillion towards settling part of the verified debts.
The council maintained that the intervention had helped reposition the electricity market and reduce investment risks, pointing to recent investment plans by Geregu Power Plc.
It cited the company’s announcement of investments in new power transformers to improve operations at the Geregu 1 Power Plant, adding that other firms were also making similar investments.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council insisted that the administration was working to address the country’s electricity challenges, while maintaining that Tinubu’s campaign promise should be judged in the context of both his full remarks and the reforms undertaken since assuming office.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has disclosed that two mobile phones allegedly stolen from members of his team during Friday’s attack in Ado-Ekiti have been traced to locations near the Ekiti State Governor’s Office and Fajuyi Park.
Sowore made the disclosure in a post on X on Sunday, November 1, 2026, while renewing his demand for the release of CCTV footage from Tawakalitu Restaurant, where he and members of his team were attacked on October 30.
According to him, one of the stolen devices was traced to a location directly opposite the office of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, while another was located opposite Fajuyi Park in Ado-Ekiti.
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Describing the discoveries as disturbing, Sowore questioned why the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) had yet to release the CCTV footage allegedly seized from the restaurant.
“This morning, we tracked two of the devices violently robbed from members of our team during the brutal attack in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, October 30, 2026, and the locations are deeply disturbing,” he wrote.
“One phone was traced to a location directly opposite the office of the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, while our other devices were located opposite Fajuyi Park in Ado-Ekiti,” he added.
The activist subsequently renewed his demand for the release of the surveillance footage, insisting that the recordings from the restaurant should be made public.
“Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS have yet to release the CCTV footage seized from Tawakalitu Restaurant, where we were attacked.
“RELEASE THE CCTV FOOTAGE NOW!” he demanded.
The latest disclosure follows an attack on Sowore and members of his entourage at Tawakalitu Restaurant in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, shortly after the activist participated in a radio interview in the state.
Sowore had alleged that armed men attacked his team, assaulted some members and dispossessed them of their personal belongings, including mobile phones.
The incident generated controversy after the Ekiti State Police Command initially described it as an altercation involving Sowore and some individuals, while the activist maintained that his team was violently attacked.
The police subsequently announced the arrest of 11 suspects in connection with the incident.
According to the police, operatives of the Rapid Response Squad arrested the suspects at their hideouts in the Atikankan area of Ado-Ekiti at about 10 p.m. on October 30.
Items reportedly recovered during the operation included 13 mobile phones, two walkie-talkies, seven ATM cards, eight international passports, vehicle keys and other belongings.
The police said investigations were ongoing to establish the roles of the suspects and determine their possible involvement in the incident.
Sowore’s latest disclosure has renewed calls for the release of the restaurant’s CCTV footage, which he believes could provide further evidence about the circumstances surrounding the attack.
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