Nigerian medical student faces deportation from Russia over delayed scholarship allowance by Sokoto govt
Usman Yahaya, a Nigerian studying at Irkutsk State Medical University (ISMU), is facing deportation from Russia.
The Sokoto-born medical student has been in detention for more than one month.
The recipient of the Best African Medical Student Award at the Russian Centre for Scientific Research was suspended by ISMU because the Sokoto government allegedly failed to pay his overdue scholarship fee.
Yahaya was thereafter detained at a Russian immigration camp at Angarsk Irkutsk.
His ordeal is linked to the Director of Foreign Students at the Sokoto State Scholarship Board, Kabiru Labaran.
The official is accused of tampering with funds for foreign bursary approved every year by the government since 2016.
Yahaya has appeared twice at a Russian state court, and if convicted, may be expelled from ISMU, sent out of the country, and banned from re-entry.
On Thursday, 2 June, 2022 Yahaya was accompanied by a staff of IMSU and a police officer to the Russian Immigration office to sign a document, alleged to be a deportation form.
The president of Nigerian Students in Europe (ANSE), Bashiru Muhammad has urged Governor Aminu Tambuwal to intervene.
Muhammad, currently working to resolve the matter, warned that Tambuwal’s support for Sokoto students abroad would be undermined if Yahaya is left to his fate.
Reacting to the issue, Sokoto Information Commissioner explained that Yahaya sought a transfer from a Sudanese University in Khartoum to Russia in 2014 without the board’s guidance.
“The Governor is in Abuja now. But I can assure you that we will meet with him whenever he returns and plead with him to intervene in Yahaya’s case”, he said.
