Some Nigerian Students studying in India have been attacked by their fellow Indian students over an altercation bothering on the usage of a football pitch at the Gurgaon University near Delhi.
The attack was confirmed in a video shared by a Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Ashok Swain, at Uppsala University on his verified Twitter handle, saying, “Nigerian students are being attacked in a University Campus near Delhi – 30,000 Nigerian students come to study in India paying money, 50,000 Indians live in Nigeria to make money.”
It was gathered in a tweet made by a user, @Abuti_Mpotso that the attack was due to a fight between a group of Indian students and some African students on access to the institution’s football pitch.
There has been fight between Indians and African students in a state called Haryana (Gurugram), 28km far from Delhi. African students have been evacuated to the Nigerian embassy in Delhi and other embassies! Fellow brothers and sisters, please check on your people. pic.twitter.com/L4qpr407Er
— ??F U TU RE HUS B AND?? (@Abuti_Mpotso) October 16, 2022
In a WhatsApp conversation @Abuti_Mpotso shared, it was revealed that H.E Ahmad Sulei, Nigerian High Commission to India, led an evacuation of over 100 Nigerian students from the 626 in the university to the Nigerian embassy in New Delhi.
The conversation reads: “It is so unfortunate that our fellow African students in GD Goenka University, Haryana had a conflict with the Indian students today.
“They whole problem started when the Indian students approached the African students at the football ground telling them that they are the official school team of the university and they have a football match to hold.
“They had a bitter argument with the African students and it ended up to a big fight. As i am talking, about 100+ students are evacuated from the 626 in the university to the Nigerian embassy in New Delhi under the leadership of H.E Ahmad Sulei, the Nigerian High commissioner to India.
“We have students with broken arms and heavy fractures on their body parts. The students will be spending the night at the mission till morning where their various embassies will come collect them in the morning.” the WhatsApp chat added.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Nigerian students would be attacked in India. For instance, in 2017, some Nigerian students were attacked by a mob on the outskirts of New Delhi. The incident took place as a crowd of protesters outside the mall demonstrated against the death of a local teenager due to a drug overdose, according to Indian Police.
The police in India later confirmed the arrest of five people after the attack.
Locals suggest that the boy had died after the Nigerians forced him to take drugs.
