Rukkaya Usman, a Nigerian student deported from Turkey, said there’s no reason for the deportation after she and many other Nigerian students were deported from Turkey TheCable reports.
She said she arrived Turkey at 8am on September 26, but was not allowed entry instead was detained and put on the next flight back to Nigeria.
According to Usman, “As I got to the airport, at the immigration they collected my passport and resident permit. They started to interrogate me. I was asked: ‘What are you studying’, ‘What is your father’s name? ‘, I tried to find out the reason for the harassment but was told it’s the new Law. We were not allowed to talk to anyone and when I inquired about my passport, I was told I would get it in Nigeria as we would be deported.
“They took me to the plane and watched as I boarded the aircraft ”
TheCable understands that the Turkish government is in a drive to deport all Nigerian students at Universities linked to Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet movement.
Gulen is an Islamic cleric, whom President Recep Erdogan of Turkey, considers as his strongest rival.
After the botched July 15 coup, Erdogan launched a massive crackdown on the investments of Gulen’s followers.
A few weeks after the coup, the Turkish government asked the Nigerian government to shut down all the schools which had ties with Gulen but the Nigerian government refused to oblige the request.
The Turkish government decided to tow this line of deportation of Nigerian residents in their country.