By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigerian authorities have arrested at least seven Polish nationals for their roles in raising Russian flags during anti-government protests this week in the West African nation’s northern region of Kano, spokesperson of intelligence agency, Department of State Services (DSS), Peter Afunanya said on Wednesday.
The country has experienced anti-government protests tagged, #EndBadGovernance, seeking to draw the attention of government to hunger ravaging several families in the country, economic hardship, inflation that has hit three decades high, insecurity and corruption.
The protests which turned deadly in at least six northern states have seen 22 people killed so far, Amnesty International said, with more protesters killed in Kano, the rights group said.
Earlier this week, some protesters waved Russian flags during protests in northern states, underscoring concerns about increased Russian activity in western Africa.
Security services detained some of the tailors they said had made the flags, which they claim is a symbol of the Nigerian Defence.
Afunanya said the Poles were detained during efforts by the Department of State Services to enforce security. He gave no details as to who they were, but said the operations were not targeting Polish citizens.
Stanislaw Gulinski, a Polish consul to Nigeria, confirmed the arrests at a meeting between Nigeria’s foreign minister and diplomats in the capital, Abuja.
“They were arrested two days ago in Kano and last I heard, they were on the plane to Abuja from Kano,” he said.
Gulinski declined to comment further when approached by Reuters.
“The Abuja (diplomatic post) was informed about the arrest of a group of Polish students and a lecturer in Kano, northern Nigeria,” the Polish foreign ministry wrote on social media platform X.
“The consular service is establishing the exact circumstances of the incident with the local authorities in order to support our citizens. The ministry of foreign affairs remains in contact with the families of those detained.”
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has called the brandishing of a foreign flag during anti-government protests as a “treasonable offence” after he held security talks with President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
In the northern states of Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, protesters were seen waving hundreds of Russian flags, with some calling for a military takeover.
The Russian embassy in Nigeria denied any involvement.
