Six Polish students and a lecturer from the Warsaw University who were arrested in Nigeria during protests have been released, the Polish foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said the students and the lecturers are in good health and will be returning home this week.
Nigeria said earlier this month that it had arrested seven Polish nationals for raising Russian flags during anti-government protests in the northern state of Kano.
Following their arrest, a Polish foreign ministry spokesperson rejected the accusation that they were waving the flags and said they were merely in the vicinity of the protest.
“The Polish students have been released and are in Kano,” the Polish foreign ministry said in a post on social media platform X.
“Thank you to everyone involved in the release of the Polish citizens!”
Recall that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting since Aug. 1 against President Bola Tinubu’s painful economic reforms that have seen a partial end to fuel and electricity subsidies, currency devaluation and inflation touching three-decade highs.
Some protesters waved Russian flags during protests in northern states, underscoring concerns about increased Russian activity in western Africa.
