Nigeria arrests seven Poles in hardship protests

Nigerian security forces have arrested seven Polish nationals accused of playing a “suspicious role” in protests against government policies and economic hardship, the national security agency said on Thursday.

The Polish foreign ministry, however, said they were students and a teacher.

Africa’s most populous country is struggling with its worst cost-of-living crisis in years after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu introduced reforms to help revive the economy and foreign investment.

A week of protests across the country have eased after a security crackdown, which rights group Amnesty International said left 21 people dead. Police and security forces say seven people have died and dismiss allegations they are responsible for the deaths.

Security agents have also arrested dozens of people for waving Russian flags in protests, a development similar to recent rallies in nearby Niger and Burkina Faso, where coups installed military governments that have moved closer to Moscow.

Seven Polish citizens were arrested in the northwestern state of Kano “over their suspicious role in the protest and flying of Russian flags”, according to a spokesman for the Department of State Security or DSS, which handles national security threats.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Poland have both been briefed. While the investigation is being concluded, the Embassy has been authorised access to the persons under reference,” the DSS said.

The DSS did not give any more details about what the seven had allegedly been doing in the protest.

But the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the nationals were a teacher and six students, according to a statement on X.

Andrzej Szejna, Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told private radio station RMF FM that the students “were in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Since the protests began, Tinubu has made an address to the nation, appealing for patience with the reforms, which the government says will improve the economy in the long term.

But the country’s military command this week also said protests had been hijacked by “sponsors” intent on subverting the government.

Tagged #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement won support with an online campaign that called for the government to reduce fuel prices and tackle the cost-of-living crisis, among other demands.