President NANS Diaspora, Comr Evidence Akhayere responds to statements by Hon. Abike Dabiri

In response to some statements made by Hon. Abike Dabiri, I would like to give my condolence to the family of Hon. Justice Bello. I also wish to state without equivocation, that North Cyprus is one of the safest if not the safest country. 

We recognize the fact that international students face several challenges outside their country to which North Cyprus is not an exception. However, it is important to note that insecurity is not among these challenges in the Northern Cyprus society. Like every other country there have been cases of deaths amongst Nigerian students as well as other international students. Contrary to what the NIDCOM boss had said, these causes largely natural and has nothing to do with hate from locals, as a matter of fact, some of these cases are as a result of disputes amongst friends of the shared nationality. 95% of the names given by the NIDCOM boss have been deaths from natural cause, it is rather bogus and ridiculous to say that 100 Nigerian students have been murdered in North Cyprus, “those are numbers from a war situation”. 

The publication of these statements appears to buttress my concern on the inability of the media to carry out investigative journalism, thus focusing more on just selling stories.

As the CEO of NIDCOM, it is expected that Hon. Abike Dabiri would have taken the pain to visit, and get required facts from the North Cyprus government before making the claims in her press statement. This is because, over the years Nigerians have studied and are currently studying in this country. 

Also, the universities in North Cyprus are internationally recognized as universities of Turkey, and graduates are accepted all over the world, NIDCOM should also gather necessary information about this. We are very much aware of the security challenges in Nigeria, and the number of students that have unfortunately lost their lives within our country and abroad however, we should bare in mind that there can be challenges anywhere in the world. 

I am therefore calling on parents and guardians of students in North Cyprus to remain calm, there are no killers or murderers in North Cyprus. As the leader of Nigerian students in diaspora, I would like to state that as much as Hon. Abike Dabiri is entitled to her opinion, she should in her capacity as NIDCOM CEO, visit Northern Cyprus to find out the truth about what resulted in the Death of the young man. She should also inquire about investigative measures taken by the country’s police force instead of, demonizing the island and its education, in a bid to cause panic amongst the parents who have children studying in Northern Cyprus. The NIDCOM boss should be aware of the sensitivity of this issue, and the aftermath of her claims will neither be, beneficial to the thousands of Nigerians studying in north Cyprus, nor the grieving family of the young man.

Comr Evidence Akhayere (Ph.D.)

President NANS Diaspora