Following the crisis inflicted on Ukraine by the Russian Government, the Federal Government of Nigeria has urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and embrace diplomatic measures or face the consequences.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, made the appeal in Abuja on Friday, February 25, after a meeting with the envoys of the G7 countries in Nigeria.
Onyeama said Nigeria does not condone the approach of aggression by Russia, calling on Russia to pull back.
According to him, “Peace and diplomacy to be prioritised by both sides. We support every effort being made to stop the aggression and Russian troops to return to Russia.”
It is also worthy to note that Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Alexei Shebarshin, has assured the Federal Government that Nigerians won’t be harmed during the raging conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Onyeama quoted Shebarshin as saying that Nigeria is a friendly nation to Russia.
Onyeama said he told the Russian envoy, Shebarshin, that Nigeria as a country would not condone the violation of the territorial integrity of a United Nations member state, a country with which Nigeria has diplomatic relations.
The minister also said that he told Shebarshin that Nigeria wanted Russia to revert to the status quo before the military action and to prioritise diplomacy and dialogue.
“This is really the position of the government and also, that we have 5,600 Nigerians in Ukraine and we are very concerned about what we are hearing and what we are seeing regarding missiles and bombs about the safety of Nigerian citizens there and also that we would like to be able to evacuate them.
“He said that this would be communicated to his headquarters and that obviously, they consider Nigeria a friendly country.