“Going Back To Nigeria Is More Risky Than Staying Here” – Says Stranded Nigerian Student in Ukraine

A Nigerian student in Ukraine named Lukman Ibrahim has said going back to the present Nigeria is more risky to him than staying in a Ukraine.

Speaking on a Zoom conversation with Channels TV, Lukman Ibrahim said he would rather be caught in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine than come back home to Nigeria.

When asked why, he said: I will seek for student permit and continue my life from here because home is not safe, everybody knows this. It’s not. So I’d rather continue my life from here.

Do you know the current problem Nigeria is facing concerning fuel scarcity, everything that is going on in the country right now?

So now you now expect me to come home and face the same thing when I just survived a war. I will never do that. Like, my mental health is more important than me saying ‘Oh yes, I know I have a home country’ but I will not do that to myself. It’s not safe. So I’ll rather pursue my career from here and take it higher than drag myself back. No, I will not do that.

I value my life more than every other thing, that’s it. And me like this as an artiste everyday, you can’t even – look at my hair! I can’t even dress like this in my home country. Everybody knows this. I make music for living and I train people on how to trade on a daily basis.

That’s what I do. Now for me like this to walk around in my own country, it’s not even possible. Now like this the war broke out, we were supposed to run to our country for safety but majority of my guys, everybody (ran to) Germany, France, Belgium. I was like no, if I have to run, I’ll rather get my stay here rather than run back to my country.

Or I’ll go to another country that I don’t know what’s going on over there. We’re all here risking our lives but going back to our country is more risky than staying here

READ ALSO: Romanian Ministry of Education offers to take in Nigerian students fleeing Ukraine to study in their universities

Reports has it that black people especially Africans are not being allowed to leave Ukraine on buses and trains because those automobiles were deemed for “Ukrainian only”.

In one harrowing tale, Alexander Somto Orah, 25, recounted how he and his friends weren’t allowed to get on a train because they weren’t white.

“I was like, ‘You are picking only white people!’” Somto said he told the officials.

He and his friends briefly made it onto a second train headed to Poland but they were quickly kicked off, with officials telling them it was “Ukrainians only.” Somto said to the official: 

“You say Ukrainians only, but I don’t see you checking passports. I see you picking white people only.” 

According to him, the train was not even filled before they left, and they still never took them. This is just one of a dozen tales we’ve heard of the harsh discrimination and racism Africans are experiencing while trying to flee Ukraine.

READ ALSO: I Didn’t Believe I’d Survive Bombing, Gunshots In Ukraine – Returnee Student

CREDIT: ALLSCHOOL, Vocal