Hundreds of Nigerians awaiting evacuation from South Africa have raised alarm over worsening hardship, as delays in the Federal Government’s repatriation process leave many stranded without food, shelter, or financial support.

Several affected Nigerians, including women, children and elderly persons, are reportedly battling severe conditions after exhausting their savings while waiting for evacuation flights back to Nigeria.

The stranded citizens had travelled from different provinces in South Africa for registration and screening after responding to the government’s evacuation programme. However, many now say they have been left abandoned as uncertainty continues over the next batch of flights.

President of the Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA), Rev. Frank Onyekwelu, raised the concern on Friday, calling on the Federal Government to urgently intervene and speed up the evacuation process.

According to him, many Nigerians who complied with official directives are now sleeping in harsh conditions with no clear timeline for their return home.

“Several have exhausted their limited resources after travelling long distances in good faith, believing arrangements had been adequately concluded for their departure.”

Onyekwelu said the prolonged delay has pushed many families into desperate conditions.

“Many of these citizens travelled from distant provinces across South Africa after being instructed to report for registration and screening. Today, numerous families, including women and children, are stranded without shelter, food, transportation or the financial means to sustain themselves.”

He also expressed concern over reports of poor communication and alleged mistreatment during the registration process.

The presidential candidate of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, declared that the actions of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration contradicts the spirit, sacrifice, and legacy of June 12.

In a statement he personally signed and released to commemorate another Democracy Day on June 12, the former Vice President charged the citizens to stand up against bad governance, reject the politics of intimidation, and resist every manifestation of democratic backsliding.

He stressed that Nigerians must once again summon the courage of those who marched, protested, resisted, suffered, and sacrificed for freedom for June 12 to retain its meaning.

The Waziri Adamawa said over the past three years, Nigerians had witnessed a deliberate and coordinated effort to weaken, fragment, and neutralise opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He added that through manufactured leadership crises, orchestrated defections, political intimidation, and the abuse of state institutions, every credible opposition platform had come under sustained attack.

Atiku said institutions that ought to serve the Nigerian people impartially had increasingly been transformed into instruments of partisan warfare, adding that financial crimes agencies, the police, the National Assembly, and even segments of the judiciary have been deployed to harass, intimidate, and coerce opposition voices into submission or defection.

Part of the statement titled ‘June 12: On The March, Again’ read: “As Nigerians prepare to commemorate another Democracy Day on June 12, we do so under the darkening shadow of a systematic assault on the democratic space by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led APC administration.

“What ought to be a celebration of freedom, popular sovereignty, and constitutional governance has instead become an occasion for sober reflection on the steady dismantling of the very ideals that inspired our struggle against military dictatorship….

“The Electoral Act 2026 has further entrenched provisions that disproportionately favour the ruling party, while freedom of speech, freedom of association, and media independence have come under relentless assault.

“These actions strike at the very heart of democracy and stand in direct contradiction to the spirit, sacrifice, and legacy of June 12,” the former Vice President said.

The Waziri Adamawa, who said he spoke not as a distant observer but as one who paid a personal price in the struggle to enthrone democratic governance in our country, stressed that he resisted every attempt to be co-opted into military rule.

He said: “Alongside other patriots, I stood firmly against dictatorship and paid dearly for that conviction. My businesses were confiscated. An assassination attempt was launched against me and my family in Kaduna. Several police officers lost their lives in that attack, and I was forced into exile.

“In the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election—the foundation upon which this Democracy Day rests—I stepped aside for the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola to emerge as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party and the eventual winner of that epochal election.

“The democracy we enjoy today was not gifted to us by benevolent rulers. It was won through sacrifice, courage, resistance, and blood. Politicians, pro-democracy activists, patriotic military officers, labour leaders, civil society organisations, students, journalists, and ordinary Nigerians united to confront military tyranny. Many paid the ultimate price. Chief MKO Abiola and Kudirat Abiola laid down their lives. So did Pa Alfred Rewane, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, scores of journalists, students, activists, and countless unnamed heroes whose sacrifices paved the way for the democratic order we now risk taking for granted.”

He, therefore, expressed concern that Nigeria found itself confronted by a different but equally dangerous threat 27 years after the military returned to the barracks with what he called the emergence of an increasingly authoritarian civilian order.

He said: “Unlike military dictatorship, which ruled by decrees and brute force, this new authoritarianism seeks legitimacy through institutions it has steadily captured and weakened. Its methods may be more sophisticated, but its objective is the same: the concentration of power, the silencing of dissent, and the subversion of the will of the people.

“The warning signs are everywhere. A shrinking civic space. A compromised electoral environment. The intimidation of opposition figures. The weaponisation of poverty. The weakening of democratic institutions. The growing perception that the ruling party is more interested in retaining power at all costs than in governing for the benefit of Nigerians.

“This is why June 12 must remain more than a public holiday. It must remain a living reminder that democracy is never permanently won; it must be continually defended.”

Atiku underscored the need to ensure that the sacrifices of June 12 were not in vain, stressing that “We cannot celebrate the defeat of military dictatorship while tolerating the rise of civilian autocracy. We cannot honour the heroes of democracy while remaining silent as democratic institutions are weakened and captured.”

The presidential candidate of the ADC expressed his commitment to working with all Nigerians of goodwill—across political parties, civil society organisations, labour unions, professional bodies, youth groups, and the broader public—to resist these authoritarian tendencies and defend our constitutional democracy.

“Once again, Nigerians are called upon to stand up in defence of the Republic. The hard-won gains of democratic rule are being steadily eroded, and there is a growing and legitimate concern that the Tinubu administration is determined either to manipulate the outcome of the 2027 elections or undermine the democratic process itself if it cannot secure victory through the ballot….

“The task before us transcends partisan politics. It is a national duty….The struggle continues. And just as we marched before, we must be prepared to march again,” he further advised citizens.

The House of Representatives has passed the state police bill, effectively making way for the decentralisation of the Nigerian policing architecture.

The resolution followed the voting by 289 lawmakers in favour of state police during Thursday’s plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.

Recall that the House committed Thursday’s plenary to voting on the State Police Bill following the spike in killings, kidnappings, and banditry in the past few months.

The session was not without its fair share of drama, as shortly after the lawmakers settled down for the business of the day, Kaduna lawmaker, Bashir Zubairu, moved a point of order, explaining that the document on the proposed state police put together by the House Committee on Constitution Review got to the lawmakers only on Thursday afternoon.

Recognised to speak by the speaker, Zubairu said, “Mr Speaker, this document was only made available to lawmakers in the chambers, and we are yet to go through it. We cannot do justice to it because we have not gone through it.”

Zubairu, a member of the African Democratic Congress, was ruled out of order, allowing the process to proceed.

While the Speaker took members through the clauses, voices shouting “Point of Order” could be heard, but the presiding officer ignored them.

Before the voting began, Abbas announced that the electronic voting system was faulty, noting that the exercise would be conducted based on attendance.

Out of the 290 members in attendance, 289 voted in favour of state police while one voted against. The Speaker abstained from voting.

The Punch