Polish diplomats seek release of students and a lecturer detained in Nigeria during protests

WARSAW, Poland -- Polish diplomats on Friday said they were making progress as they appealed for the release of seven citizens who were detained in Nigeria in what Warsaw believes was a misunderstanding that happened as protests were underway in the West African country.

Six Polish students and a lecturer from Warsaw University, who were taking part in a program to study the Hausa language, were detained earlier this week in the state of Kano in northern Nigeria.

Nigeria’s secret service said they were arrested for carrying Russian flags during a protest — something Polish officials say they find unlikely.

The Polish consul in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, met Friday with the detained students as Poland sought to clarify their legal situation.

They “are feeling well and in good condition. They are currently living in a hotel in a good district of the city,” Poland's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “No charges have been brought against them, and procedures are underway to conclude the investigation."

Deputy Foreign Minister Jakub Wisniewski earlier appealed to Nigeria to allow the students and lecturer to return home to their families, briefing reporters after meeting separately with Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires and the families of the detained Poles.

“During the meeting, I conveyed that I was convinced that the students’ behavior could have resulted from their ignorance of local customs, culture and laws. I appealed for the possibility of their return to Poland, to their homes, where their families are waiting for them,” Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski said he did not believe the students had been carrying Russian flags.

Pro-Russian sentiment is rare in the Central European nation, which has bad memories of suffering under Russian rule in the past. Polish society is today deeply critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine and strongly backs Ukraine.

Wisniewski noted that there is currently a curfew in place and a ban on demonstrations in Nigeria, where large protests have been taking place in the nation of 220 million in reaction to high inflation and hunger.

A few Nigerian protesters have been seen waving Russian flags in northern states, continuing a trend previously seen in Africa in coup-hit countries where pro-Russian sentiments are growing as military governments sever ties with the West.