A Nigerian student has been reported missing in Northern Cyprus since August 2, according to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).
The case was reported to the commission by the student’s mother, Dije Ibraheem, NiDCOM said in a statement issued in Abuja by its spokesman Abdur-Rahman Balogun.
The report of the missing student came barely 24 hours after NiDCOM repeated advisory to Nigerians against seeking educational succour in Türkiye Republic of Northern Cyprus.
He said that the missing student, AbdulSamad Abubakar, had called the mother on August 2 through another person’s phone number, crying “they have come to pick me up to a detention camp.”
“Mrs Ibraheem said AbdulSamad is a 300-Level International Relations student of Cyprus Science University and was living off campus.
“She said since that call on August 2, 2022 from an unknown number, with her son wailing and asking for help, she has not known his whereabout or heard any news from him or the school authorities.
“Confused on what to do, she reached out to the agent who secured the admission and travelling documents for her son but he was not forthcoming too,” the statement said.
According to him, the woman’s prayer is to get her only son back to Nigeria alive.
“I am here today at NiDCOM to beg you in the name of God to help me bring back my son alive, as I am scared of hearing any bad news about my only child. Please help me, I am a single mother,” she was quoted as saying.
Secretary of the commission, Sule Bassi, received the petition on behalf of the chairman of NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
He assured Ibraheem that everything possible would be done to locate her son and bring him back to Nigeria.
On Thursday, Turkey’s Ambassador to Nigeria Hidayet Bayraktar issued an open letter describing the advisory by NiDCOM as exaggerated.
NiDCOM responded by releasing the list of Nigerians murdered in Northern Cyprus within three years.
