Afghanistan: Nigerians in Diaspora want peaceful coexistence

Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation-Americas (NIDOA) on Friday stressed the need for compatriots to learn from Afghanistan and ensure sustainable peaceful coexistence among various ethnic groups in their fatherland.

The Chairman of NIDOA, Mr Obed Monago, made this known in a telephone interview.

Monago spoke against the backdrop of fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces in Afghanistan as it affects Nigerians.

He said, “the lack of risk reassessment and management is what we are seeing playing out at the airport in Afghanistan; specifically the chaotic nature of the evacuation processes.

“Afghans are running alongside aircraft taxing to take off and people dropping off the air borne aircraft, in their desperate bid to escape the Taliban.

“Nigeria must learn from Afghanistan and find acceptable ways to restore peaceful coexistence among various ethnic groups trying to tear the country apart and not wishing regional agitations will just go away.”

Monago said that the NIDOA and the worldwide arm of the organisation were not aware of Nigerians living in Afghanistan.

According to him, if at all there are Nigerians living in the country, such will be minor.

“I reason that they will have to be opportunity for them to leave the country when the Taliban fully establishes control, if they so choose.

“There’s no NIDO presence in Afghanistan, at least, not to my knowledge,” he said.

Monago said that although the international community’s decision had been reached in terms of several calls for people to pull out of Afghanistan, no one anticipated the sudden crisis in the country.

“The decision had been reached to pull out, but no one saw what was to come; how Afghan trained 300,000 strong army was unwilling to fight the Taliban and defend their country.

“Such shows how resolved and determined the Taliban was in taking over the rulership of Afghanistan, the result of this failed reassessment is what is playing out.

“This is particular in terms of U.S. struggles to get its citizens and other foreign nationals out of Afghanistan.

“U.S. trained and backed Afghanistan army had no appetite to quickly dissolve into nothingness, Taliban on the other hand with determination ceased opportunity and drove into Kabul with no resistance whatsoever,” Monago said.