Federal Gov’t Frees 7 Polish Citizens Arrested During Hardship Protests

Six Polish students and a lecturer from the Warsaw University who were detained in Nigeria during the hardship protests have been released, the Polish foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry disclosed that the released persons are in good health and will be returning to their home country this week.

Spokesman of the ministry, Pawel Wronski, said the seven Polish citizens have had their passports, laptops, and belongings returned, and were staying at the university campus in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, waiting for their trip back home.

The seven were in northern Nigeria to take part in a programme to study the Hausa language.

They were detained earlier this month in Kano State during the protest for allegedly carrying Russian flags.

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Officials in Poland, which has frosty relations with Russia, said that was unlikely and that the whole situation was a misunderstanding.

The seven were held at a hotel in Kano while Warsaw was actively seeking their release.

“Our students were at the wrong time at the wrong place,” Wronski said, urging people to be cautious when traveling to distant locations.

Wronski said the ministry posts warnings and advice to travelers on its website, including a warning about the Nigerian state of Kano, where it described the political situation as being “quite complicated.”

Pro-Russian sentiment is rare in the Central European nation, which has bad memories of suffering under Russian rule in the past. Polish society is today deeply critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine and strongly backs Ukraine.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the protests saw thousands, mostly young people, rallying against the rising costs of living and against alleged bad governance that has stifled development in the country due to the economic policies of the incumbent government.

Some protesters were seen waving the Russian flags during the protest, resulting in the security authorities accusing them of committing treasonable felony.