By Alao Abiodun, Chinyere Okoroafor and David Adenuga
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Putin after my life, popular pastor Adelaja claims
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Russia threatens to pull out of nuclear arms deal with the West
The Federal Government yesterday unveiled its plan to evacuate Nigerians currently stranded in Ukraine following the ongoing military attacks on that country by Russia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in Abuja that the Nigerians would be evacuated through the Embassy in Warsaw, Poland.
Poland shares its south eastern border with Ukraine.
Thousands of Ukrainians and foreigners alike are trying to find their way out of the country as Russian missiles and bombs continue to rain on Ukraine.
The deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, threatened yesterday that Moscow could pull out of the last nuclear arms deal with the U.S. in response to the sanctions imposed by Washington and its allies.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement entitled ‘Public Notice from the Nigerian Embassy in Poland,’ yesterday said: “In light of the happenings in Ukraine, please be advised that all Nigerians crossing over to Poland would have staff of the Nigerian Embassy waiting for them.
“The Federal Government is making necessary arrangements for the evacuation of those stranded in Ukraine through the Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. Please present this as your destination address with the Border Control: 02-953, Kosiarzy 22B, 02-956 Warsaw.”
Embassy staff and volunteers, it said, will be at the Polish-Ukrainian borders with buses and vans to pick up Nigerians from designated crossing border points and locations.
These are: Hrebenne-Rawa Ruska, Korezowa-Krakowise, Medyka-Szeginie and Budomierz-Hurszew.
Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital and New Media, Bashir Ahmad tweeted: “The Nigerian Embassy staff, along with volunteers, are at the Polish-Ukrainian borders with buses to help pick up Nigerians crossing the border from Ukraine.
“Phone: +48-729275316, Phone: +48-579201775, Phone: +48-729242516, Phone: +48-739493541 Kindly spread the information!”
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, said: “Nigerian officials from the Embassy in Poland are at the border with transport for Nigerians.
“Once you cross the border from Ukraine into Poland, please shout out to be located. No sealed lips. Shout ‘Embassy of Nigeria’ so they can find you o.”
Ukraine-based Nigerian preacher Adelaja goes into hiding, says Putin after his life
Founder and Senior Pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations in Ukraine, Dr Sunday Adelaja, said he is now in hiding in that country following allegation that his name was on a list of prominent people in Ukraine targeted for elimination by President Vladimir Putin.
Adelaja’s church is the largest Christian denomination in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Adelaja, in a Facebook video recording, said he had been on the move with his family for 48 hours “travelling; sometimes we will walk, and sometimes we will run. Other times, we are in a car or standing in a long queue with everyone who wants to escape for the safety of their lives.
“I had wanted to stay back and send my wife out of the country if necessary, but then I got information that in a few days, that was two days ago, that the Russians would enter Kyiv, and from the American intelligence, we got to know that they have a list of people for elimination.
“This is not for ordinary people but for influential people, people who have a public opinion and that I am on that list.
“I knew that I am on the list because I was already a persona non grata (someone not acceptable in-country) in Russia since 2005. I have been a personal enemy of Vladimir Putin for close to 20 years now. He banned me from entering Russia (that’s another story). So I knew I would be on that list.
“But before I left, we were able to gather some African students in our house. Some people live with me and some people came to join, and I have an underground bunker in our house so everybody in my house now are under the bunker.
“I would have stayed back, but when I was told that I was on the list and that Russia was going to enter the city, all my leaders in the church said I must leave. So, I had to quickly arrange for myself and Pastor Bose to go to a safe place.
“As I am talking to you right now, we are in a safe place.”
Nigerian students remain trapped as Ukrainian government extends curfew
Many Nigerian students in Sumy Oblast, located in the northeastern part of Ukraine, are still trapped in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
The students are seeking the Federal Government’s rescue intervention to get to the nearest border for evacuation.
A curfew extension in the Ukrainian capital has worsened the situation for most of the stranded students who are now in panic mode.
The prolonged curfew will run from 5 pm to 8 am every day “for more effective defence of the capital and security of its people,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko had said on Twitter Saturday.
A student in her 5th course at the Sumy State University medical institute, Victoria Tolu, in a chat with The Nation on Telegram, said the news going viral online is nothing compared to the suffering they’re currently going through.
According to her, they had to take refuge underground as Russia continues to launch missiles.
In her words: “We can’t transport ourselves to the border with no bus or train in sight because the city is under attacks.
“I’m so scared and can hardly sleep, and even the underground isn’t completely safe.
“It looks like we’ve been deserted. We were even asked to turn off all lights for safety purposes. I can’t turn on the light till tomorrow morning. Let them not mark my building as target.”
In a similar vein, another student simply identified as Elijah, corroborating Tolu, told The Nation that they were still trapped in Sumy Oblast.
The third-year medical student described the experience as traumatising, adding that they were taking refuge at a bomb shelter provided by the school.
“There is no way to get to all those cities whose borders are near Poland and Romania because we realised that it’s the way out of Ukraine.
“The border near Sumy is the Russian border. We need to get out of the place as soon as possible.
“We are so terrified and traumatised. They have been attacking military bases…Please we need help. The situation here is bad.
“Others in a city like Kyiv and Kharkiv can get to those cities that share borders with Poland and Romania, but in Sumy, we are stuck. We need help.”
Another student, Mary Matthew, told The Nation that the curfew had been extended till Monday morning, adding that it is forbidden to leave the apartment from 22:00 to 07:00.
“The only reason to leave the house is to hide in the nearest shelters when you hear the warning about the shelling,” she said.
She lamented that they no longer have access to the CCTV cameras which they were using to check what was happening.
Russia threatens to pull out of arms deals with US
Responding to the spate of sanctions imposed by the US and its allies on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said yesterday that his country could pull out of the last nuclear arms deal with the U.S., cut diplomatic ties with Western nations and freeze their assets.
Moscow, Medvedev said, could also restore the death penalty after Russia was removed from Europe’s top rights group.
Russian has not carried out capital punishment in the last 25 years.
Medvedev branded the sanctions as a show of Western political impotence.
“We are being driven out of everywhere, punished and threatened, but we don’t feel scared,” he said, claiming that the sanctions were nothing more than sterile moves by the western nations to vindicate their past “shameful decisions, like a cowardly retreat from Afghanistan.”
The treaty, which Medvedev signed in 2010 with then-U.S. President Barack Obama, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.
The pact, the last remaining U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control agreement, had been set to expire in February 2021 but Moscow and Washington extended it for another five years.
If Russia opts out of the agreement now, it will remove any checks on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces and raise new threats to global security.
