Foreign ministry: Eviction of Nigerians from Chinese hotels being probed

The ministry of foreign affairs says the Nigerian mission in China is investigating the ejection of Nigerians from some hotels in the country.

Some Nigerians were left stranded at the weekend after Chinese police ordered their ejection for reasons yet unknown.

Tope Elias-Fatile, the ministry’s spokesman, who confirmed the incident to TheCable, said the Nigerian mission in China is on top of the situation.

One of the victims had informed TheCable that “hotel officials just woke me up from sleep to check my visa and passport. Hotel officials acting on ‘instruction’ as I was told. No explanations.

“I’ve been on the phone trying to get a flight out of here. Flights are fully booked”.

Elias-Fatile, in a statement, said those affected by the ejection have been accommodated elsewhere.

He said the ejection from hotels was not peculiar to Nigerians, adding that citizens from three other countries were affected.

The spokesman said the Nigerian mission in China is engaging the host authorities on the issue.

“The problem started on Friday evening when offices had closed. (Actually, citizens of four countries were affected),” he told TheCable.

“The mission is engaging host authorities on the issue. Meanwhile, the Nigerians that were ejected from the mentioned hotels have been accommodated elsewhere by the efforts of the mission.

“The mission has officially expressed disappointment on the action of the local security bureau.

“The provincial foreign office had intervened and normalcy has returned. A meeting is being scheduled for Monday to resolve the issue once and for all.”

The statement was made available to TheCable on Tuesday.