WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish diplomats on Friday appealed for the release of seven citizens held in Nigeria in what Warsaw said was a misunderstanding amid protests taking place in the West African country.
Six Polish students and a lecturer from the University of Warsaw, who were taking part in a programme to learn the Hausa language, were arrested earlier this week in Kano State in northern Nigeria.
A spokesman for the Nigerian secret service said they were arrested because they carried Russian flags during the protest. Polish officials say this is unlikely.
Deputy Foreign Minister Jakub Wisniewski appealed to Nigeria to allow the students and the teacher to return to their families. He informed reporters about Poland’s efforts in the case after speaking to Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires in Warsaw.
“During the meeting, I expressed my belief that the students’ behavior could be a result of their ignorance of local customs, culture and laws. I appealed to the possibility that they would return to Poland, to their homes, where their families are waiting for them,” Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski said he did not believe the students were carrying Russian flags.
Pro-Russian sentiment is rare in the Central European nation, which has bad memories of suffering under Russian rule in the past. Polish society today is highly critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine and strongly supports Ukraine.
Wisniewski said the seven Poles had been taken to the capital Abuja and were safe. The Polish consul was to meet them on Friday afternoon.
Wisniewski noted that a curfew and a ban on demonstrations are currently in place in Nigeria, where large protests are taking place in the country of 220 million people in response to high inflation and hunger.
In the northern states, some Nigerian protesters have been seen carrying Russian flags. This trend continues a trend seen in African countries that have suffered coups, where pro-Russian sentiments are growing as military governments cut ties with the West.
