The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has warned parents against sending their wards to study in Northern Cyprus.
The warning comes after the killing of a 25-year-old Nigerian student, Ibrahim Khaleel Bello, a third-year Civil Engineering Degree student of Girne American University in Girne (Kyrenia), Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus ( TRNC) via Mersin 10, Turkey
Hon. Dabiri-Erewa said that Bello and no fewer than a 100 others have been killed in mysterious circumstances in the country.
NIDCOM in a Twitter thread said, “Ibrahim Khaleel Bello was among about 100 Nigerians killed and murdered in mysterious circumstances from 2016 to 2020 without prosecuting any of the assailants.”
Dabiri-Erewa called on Nigerians especially Students and parents to be wary of sending their wards to Northern Cyprus as the country is not recognized by the United Nations except the Republic of Turkey, adding that Nigeria has no diplomatic ties with that country.
She insisted that the country should be blacklisted given the preponderance of Nigerian Students who have died mysteriously in that country without any prosecution or compensation whatsoever.
She said this after a petition by Hon. Justice Amina Ahmad Bello, a Judge in Kaduna state High Court, on the mysterious and inexplicable death of her son, Ibrahim Bello.
She assured the delegation led by Justice Bello, that NIDCOM will work with the Ministry of Justice, Nigerian Mission in Turkey and other relevant agencies to ensure justice prevailed.
She added that “the death of Ibrahim Khaleel Bello should be a tipping point to end the continuous killings of Nigerian students in that country.”
Dabiri-Erewa stated that most of the courses Nigerians parents send their kids to Northern Cyprus Universities to study are not accredited and they end up killing the children, many of them unreported.
She said: “The time has come for us to blacklist all these Universities in Northern Cyprus and advise our students from seeking any form of admission there as it portends danger to their life and future.”
She added that the office of the Attorney General of the Federation has already reported the matter to Interpol for further investigation.
Justice Amina Ahmad Bello, mother of the deceased, said she wants justice, not just for her son but also for other Nigerian Students who have died mysteriously in the Girne American University Girne (Kyrenia), and other Universities in Northern Cyprus.
She narrated how her son was allegedly murdered and it was covered up by the authorities in Northern Cyprus as well as the University authorities who claimed it was a suicide mission, as he ”fell from a seven-storey building.”
She insisted that the report be investigated and all those found culpable be prosecuted as there was nothing to show that her son committed suicide.
Justice Bello said hours before her son was killed, she spoke with him, and he was expressing fears on his safety in the University environment.
She said: “I don’t believe it was an accident or a suicide as I went to Cyprus barely 24 hours it happened and got to the mortuary where there was no scratch or wound on his body.
“I suspected foul play that my son was killed as the school was non- challans in breaking the news to me on my arrival there.”
Justice Bello said hours before the boy died, he sent her a WhatsApp message that reads: “Mama, Please I want to come back home. Wallahi if I stay here, I will just die here without anybody batting an eyelash. I just need to come back home. Mama, please try to understand that this isn’t a place for me.”
She alleged that it is possible some of the vital organs of some of the slain Nigerian students were harvested as her son’s stomach was opened and sutured when the corpse was finally released.
