The recent unrest in Libya threw alot of foreign nationals living there into a state of confussion with most of them mainly fellow africans being forced to return back to their countries of origin. Most Nigerians who lived in Libya have since returned back .....unfortunately with sad tales of their experience there and even back here at home. In this interview that was conducted by Sunday Sun, some Nigerians narrated the horror and trauma they went through while travelling by road through the desert to Europe (where they were supposed to go) but ended up in some north african countries. According to one of the returnees.....'it is better to go to prison in Nigeria for five or 10 years than go through the experience in that desert'.
Read the sad revelationt of what life was like for them there...............
According to the Chairman of the Nigerian Community in Sahba, Libya, Zacharia Saleh Abdalla, who said he just returned from the Libyan-Chad border, where he dropped off about 378 Nigerians, who would continue their homeward journey from there, said: "The situation is very bad here.
Nigerians are suffering; some are very sick while others are dying.
"The UN came here to take some people to Chad, but they only took about 260 people to their camp in Chad.
"Nigerians here are really suffering. They are appealing to the Federal Government to provide, at least, vehicles for them to come back home. They are not asking for airplane again. They are willing and ready to travel by road through Chad if government could help with vehicles," Abdalla said. An Edo State-born Libyan returnee, Clement Oronsaye, worked for Mohammed Muammar Gaddafi, the first son of Col. Gaddafi, for close to 16 years.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, he narrates what he saw during the crisis in Libya and also what Nigerians are going through in the desert as they try to escape the hardship in Nigeria to Europe.
Two female returnees, Rose Ikhumen from Edo State and Grace Solomon from Akwa Ibom State equally shared their experiences in Libya during the crisis. Excerpts…
Clement Oronsaye:
Q::::When did you go to Libya?
A::::Actually, I have been in Libya since 1995.
Q::::Did you originally set out to settle in Libya or were you on your way to Europe and got stranded in Libya?
A::::When I finished studying Computer Engineering from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1992, I saw people were moving to Europe and I decided to join them. It was like a game of fun. So, I originally set out for Spain, but when I got to Libya I decided to settle there.
Q::::Did you go by air or road?
A::::At that time we were all going by road through the desert, because the Libyan government was not offering visa to people to enter their country.
Q::::What was your desert experience like?
A::::The desert was terrible. Let me just cut off the Niger part of it. The Chadian and Sudanese rebels along the desert route are so ruthless. The maltreatment we suffered in their hands was so terrible. At a point, we were about 700 people inside one truck; it was so tight. So, the same people leading us to Europe through the desert after we had paid them money were the same people who connived with these rebels to arrest Nigerians. They would tell them these Nigerian guys are so rich. They would arrest our men and rape our women, and if you were rude, they could kill you. Many Nigerians were wasted because they were stubborn.
Q::::How many days did you spend in the desert from Nigeria to Libya?
A::::The number of days one spends journeying from Nigeria to Libya through the desert depends on the circumstances prevalent at the time. You can spend three months, other people may
more after the jump
