*There were international nationals living, studying, and working in Ukraine just before Russia’s Strongman president Vladimir Putin unleashed Russia’s firepower on the country, destroying and decimating town after town, killing and displacing Ukrainians, wives, mothers, the young and old, the elderly and children. This left other countries, for example, Poland who felt the need to do something and accommodate Ukrainians fleeing war, away from war-torn Ukraine. Russia escalated its deadly attacks on civilians with no care for human life and sent many of its own soldiers to their graves for a needless war which he thought would be a walk-over.
Ukraine was home to over 76,000 foreign students, according to government data from 2020. Nearly a quarter of the students were from Africa, with the largest numbers coming from Nigeria being in Ukraine. Others were from Ghana, Morocco, Zambia, India, and Zimbabwe.
When war broke out in Ukraine, Nigerian Pastor Sunday Adelaja was the senior minister at Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations church. He founded it about three decades ago. It was one of the largest Christian congregations in Europe and had its headquarters in Kyiv where Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky fights from against Russia’s invasion.
With the advent of the war, Pastor Adelaja fled Ukraine and so did many Africans who escaped or were evacuated from the war-ravaged nation with their lives. There were African students enlisted in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine who were killed.
African students reported incidents of racial discrimination and abuse at the Ukrainian/Poland border. Putin’s war destabilized foreign nationals in Ukraine as well as the Black community.
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President Elect Bola Tinubu
35% of a population of over 211.40 million voted to elect Nigeria’s President-elect and his Vice President-elect.
There is a lot to do for the incoming president which includes bringing Nigerians together as one. To keep Nigeria one is a task he has to do. Nigeria must make progress.
TAYO Fatunla whose work features on MSN.Com, is an award-winning Nigerian Comic Artist, Editorial Cartoonist, Writer and Illustrator is an artist of African diaspora. He is a graduate of the prestigious Kubert School, in New Jersey, US. and recipient of the 2018 ECBACC Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award for his illustrated OUR ROOTS creation and series – Famous people in Black History – He participated at UNESCO’s Cartooning In Africa forum held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the Cartooning Global Forum in Paris, France and has held a virtual OUR ROOTS cartoon workshop for SMITHSONIAN- National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C. His Fela Kuti outline image is featured in the Burna Boy’s mega-Afrobeat hit song “Ye”. –– tfatunla@hotmai.com
