Nigeria detains students for allegedly displaying Russian flags during protest

Nigerian security forces have detained seven Polish nations, including six students and a lecturer, for allegedly displaying Russian flags during protests against economic hardship in the West African nation, Nigerian and Polish authorities said Wednesday.

The Poles were arrested Monday in the northern Kano state “because of where they were found during the protests and for displaying foreign flags,” said Peter Afunanya, a spokesman for the Nigeria secret service, at a meeting of diplomats hosted by Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry in the capital, Abuja.

Afunanya did not say if the Poles being detained were participating in the protests when they were arrested, nor was there any evidence of their involvement presented at the meeting.

According to the Polish state news agency PAP, the University of Warsaw confirmed those detained were students and a lecturer who were in Nigeria for a study trip organized by the university.

The students “found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told PAP. The Poles were not carrying any flags, Szejna said, but added, “It seems they were taking photos and this had been interpreted in this way.”

The Polish foreign affairs ministry said on X that its officials in Nigeria are establishing “the exact circumstances” of the incident with Nigerian authorities.

Thousands of mostly young Nigerians had poured onto the streets across the country to protest against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and against alleged bad governance that has stifled the country’s development despite being a top oil producer.

In several northern states, a few protesters were seen waving Russian flags, a trend that until now was only common in Africa in coup-hit countries where pro-Russian sentiments are growing off the back of coups by militaries severing ties with the West.

In response to a question by a Polish diplomat about their whereabouts, the Nigerian secret service spokesman said the agency was open to working with Poland on the issue.

“It is not a targeted operation at Polish citizens,” Afunanya said, although he didn’t elaborate on the next steps in the case.

The Nigerian secret service had said Monday that it had arrested the tailors sewing the Russian flags as well as those “sponsoring” them.

Analysts have said the trends of waving Russian flags during protests, seen for the first time in Nigeria, could be dangerous and shows just how far anti-Western and pro-Russian sentiments have grown in parts of Africa.

In one viral video from Kano state, a protester who looked to be in his teenage years held a Russian flag beside a placard that read: “Russia come and help us.” Russia has denied any involvement in the use of its flags in the protests.

Nigeria’s military chief Christopher Musa said such acts constitute treason, which is punishable by death in the country and is defined by Nigerian laws as any act that among other things “instigate(s) any foreigner to invade Nigeria with an armed force.”