The Federal Government has announced that the final evacuation flight from South Africa will land in Lagos on Wednesday.

In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the flight, operated by Air Peace, is expected to depart Johannesburg with 315 returnees at 1:30am.

Ebienfa pegged the estimated time of arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport at 6.30am.

It would be the fifth evacuation flight by the government, and the seventh batch of Nigerians to be repatriated from South Africa following the xenophobic violence.

Over 1,000 Nigerians were said to have indicated interest to return.

The fourth evacuation flight arrived on July 9 with 282 returnees, bringing the total number of Nigerians repatriated from South Africa since the evacuation flights began on June 11 to 1,141.

Theminister of foreign affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had asked Nigerians in South Africa to take advantage of the ongoing exercise to return home.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s call came as two more Nigerians were reported dead in South Africa, bringing the official death toll of Nigerian citizens in the country, since the latest xenophobic violence to four.

Some repatriated Nigerians have alleged that the figures are higher.

The minister assured that the federal government would ensure that no citizen who expressed interest to return home would be left behind.

The Special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga,
has tackled Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, over his call for a United Nations (UN)-backed investigation into the abduction of pupils and teachers.

The governor had, on Monday, urged the UN and other international accountability bodies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Ogbomoso abduction and rescue of the victims, saying Nigerians deserve a full account of what transpired.

He said: “The circumstances surrounding this incident are sufficiently grave and unusual to warrant independent scrutiny beyond our domestic institution,” the governor said.

Recall that armed men attacked three schools in the Yawota and Ahoro Esienle communities of Oriire LGA, abducting 39 pupils and six teachers on May 15.

The victims were rescued after spending 56 days in captivity following a month-long military operation involving multiple security agencies.

Onanuga, while speaking to The Punch, said Makinde’s call was unnecessary because the military and other security agencies had explained the circumstances surrounding the operation.

“The governor has just expressed his opinion that the UN should probe this incident. Our doors are open. Let the UN come if he thinks there is more to it than what our military has explained,” Onanuga said.

He questioned the basis for the governor’s demand, saying there was no reason for security agencies to deliberately allow children to remain in captivity.

“Look at those kids. Some of them are just about four or six years old. Will anyone want to deliberately subject them to the trauma they went through for 56 days?” he said.

Onanuga noted that the operation came at a cost, with members of the military and the Oyo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun, losing their lives during the mission.

He accused Makinde, who declared his presidential bid on the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) platform, of reducing the saga to politics.

“It is just unfortunate that Mr Makinde, maybe because of politics, because he is a presidential candidate now, doesn’t have any trust in our own institutions and is now calling on an external body to come and investigate,” he said.

The presidential aide described the governor’s demand as “unwarranted” and “absolutely unnecessary”.

“The man is just playing politics, and it is the politics of the bizarre. He wants to weaponise anything available, including dredging up a strange conspiracy theory,” he added.

Mrs. Rachael Alamu, the principal of Community High School in Oriire Local Government Area,  who was rescued alongside abducted teachers and pupils last Friday, has explained the reason why the kidnappers killed two of the teachers.

The teachers killed were a Mathematics teacher, Mr Michael Oyedokun, who was beheaded in the kidnappers’ den and Mr Esiyan Adegboye, 49, who was shot dead during the invasion.

Alamu made this known while speaking with newsmen on Monday.

The principal, the other rescued children and teachers were received by Governor Seyi Makinde at the State Government House.

She said, “There are times that we have hope that we will all come out alive. The terrorists killed Mr Michael, the first teacher, on the second day of our abduction and Deacon, the second teacher, was killed on the first Sunday of June.

“They killed them purposely because they thought it would force the hand of the government to provide them whatever they wanted. They already knew that the whole world was interested in our case. We have scars already, and we believe that God will heal us. We appreciate everyone that contributed to this success.”

Recounting their experience in captivity, the principal stressed that the victims spent most of the 56 days in the open forest, exposed to harsh weather conditions while trying to keep the children alive and emotionally stable.

“You can only imagine it. It was not easy. We were in the forest, in the open, most of the time, under the sun and under the rain, with the children. But we kept going because there was no way out.

“We knew it was only God that could help us, and we believed people were praying for us. That kept us going,” she said.

Alamu disclosed that although she was not physically assaulted, several of the younger pupils suffered severe beatings whenever they cried or made noise.