A video that went viral last weekend showed two Indonesian Immigration officers manhandling an accredited Nigerian diplomat, Mohammed Buba. While two of the officials held his hands and pinned him down in the backseat, another freely assaulted his unprotected head as he cried out in pain.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, while reacting to the development, demanded an unreserved apology for the Indonesian government and also threatened that Nigeria would review its relationship with the country. The Federal government also announced the recall of the Nigerian Ambassador to Indonesia.

Apologising on behalf of his country, the spokesperson of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Teuku Faizasyah, said “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets the incident on August 7th. This is an isolated incident, and is in no way related to the commitment of the Indonesian government in carrying out its obligations as host country or in accordance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.”

At the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID19, the Minister said the suspension of the evacuation is to make way for new measures that would require citizens returning from overseas to get tested and self-isolate at home rather than in selected hotels.

“Anybody that is going to be evacuated will, first of all, undergo a test from the countries they are leaving from, at least five days before travel and not later than nine days before. That will be a pre-condition for boarding the flights to Nigeria. And if they are positive, they will not be able to board the flight. On arrival in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote and his other partners will have in place these units where they will take samples from the passengers coming in and they will retain their passports. The passengers will then be able to go home and not into prescribed hotels to self-isolate. Results from those samples will then be ready within a day or two; those who are positive will then be taking in for isolation. The whole issue of quarantining in hotels will no longer be necessary. This can also mean more people can also come back more frequently, and it will be a lot easier than it has been up to now.”

Nigeria has evacuated 989 stranded citizens with 265 from the United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom (253); United States (160); Saudi Arabia (292) and Lebanon (57)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, who disclosed this on Twitter on Wednesday morning, said the evacuees were mostly women and children.

He tweeted “We received 292 evacuees stranded in Saudi Arabia yesterday. The Saudi Government transported them to Abuja. A large number are nursing mothers and children and they are all comfortably settled in hotels under the mandatory 14 days quarantine.”

With this latest evacuation, 970 Nigerians have so far been evacuated from other countries due to the Coronavirus pandemic.