The Federal Government of Nigeria, on Friday, summoned the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Kirdoda Valerii and his Russian counterpart, Alexei Shebarshin, over the raging conflict between their countries and the need to evacuate Nigerians living there.
Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with the envoys separately behind closed doors in Abuja.
Onyeama said he told the Russian envoy that Nigeria as a country wouldn’t condone the violation of the territorial integrity of a United Nations member State, a country with which Nigeria has diplomatic relations.
He also said that he told Shebarshin that Nigeria wanted Russia to revert to the status quo before the military action and to prioritize diplomacy and dialogue.
Onyeama said, “This is really the position of the government and also, that we have 5,600 Nigerians in Ukraine and we are very concerned about what we are hearing and what we are seeing regarding missiles and bombs about the safety of Nigerian citizens there and also that we would like to be able to evacuate them.
“He said that this would be communicated to his headquarters and that obviously, they consider Nigeria a friendly country.
“The Russian envoy also said that they would do nothing to harm Nigerians and assured me that their action is targeted at military installations and that they are not about to start attacking civilian areas and so forth.”
Onyeama added that the Russian envoy insisted that civilians were not being targeted and that hopefully, it won’t last long.
Speaking after his meeting with the Ukrainian envoy, Onyeama said the government sympathized with Ukraine regarding its situation as a country and as a people, in view of the heavy bombardment, which has led to the loss of lives.
“I told the Ukrainian envoy that we want the cooperation of the Government of Ukraine to do whatever is possible to ensure their safety and security and to also seek advice as to how the evacuation can be facilitated,” Onyeama added.
