Russia To Deport ‘Brilliant’ Nigerian Medical Student Over Corruption In Sokoto Scholarship Board

Yahaya Usman Gada, a Nigerian final-year medical student at Irkutsk State Medical University (ISMU), will be deported from Russia to Nigeria any moment from now, PRNigeria reports.

Yahaya, a Sokoto State-born medical student has been in detention in Russia, for over a month.

He was a leading African student with 5.2 GP before his suspension from the university.

Yahaya, a recipient of the Best African Medical Student award at the Russian Centre for Scientific Research, was first suspended by the medical university when the Sokoto government could not pay for his scholarship, which is long overdue.

He was thereafter detained at a Russian immigration camp at Angarsk Irkutsk, by the authorities.

The student has appeared twice at a Russian State court and if eventually convicted, Yahaya may be expelled from ISMU, detained or even banned from entering Russia, in the nearest future.

Yahaya was on Thursday morning (June 2, 2022) accompanied by a staff member of IMSU and a police officer to the Russian immigration office to sign a document, alleged to be a deportation form.

Meanwhile, the Head of Transparency International in Nigeria, an anti-corruption body, Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani has called for the probe of the officers behind Yahaya’s ongoing ordeal in Sokoto.

Rafsanjani, who is also the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), appealed to Tambuwal to intervene in the plight of the student.

He urged anti-corruption agencies to probe the allegation of bribery and corrupt practices at the Sokoto Scholarship Board.

“This is very unfortunate that the bright final-year medical student in the finest medical university in Russia and from Sokoto is facing this painful dilemma when we are aware how our elites value the education of their children in the most expensive schools abroad. 

“While we appeal to Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto, a state that has a shortage of qualified medical practitioners to intervene in the plight of poor students, we call on the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) and ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission) to investigate the corrupt practices at Sokoto Scholarship Board,” Rafsanjani said.