Nigeria player Charles Collins narrates harrowing escape from war ravaged Sudan

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Nigeria forward Charles Collins has narrated how he left Sudan and returned to Nigeria in his shorts.

Collins who plays for Sudanese side Haidob en Nahud was looking set for the next match in the Sudan Premier League before fight broke out on April 15, with the city where he was residing turning into war zone.

The 28-year-old plays for Khartoum side had to leave his the country in just the black shorts he was wearing when battles between the army and a powerful paramilitary group reached his neighborhood of Khartoum.

This week, Collins arrived in Nigeria alongside 395 other compatriots that flew from Egypt, after escaping from Sudan in what many described as a dangerous journey lasting several days.

“I am coming back home with just this, just my blanket,” he told the BBC at Abuja’s international airport, swiveling to reveal a black backpack. I ran out of my house wearing just shorts, it was a terrible experience.”

His club gained promotion to the Sudanese top fight this season and were on course to qualify for the second tier African Club football competition, CAF Confederation Cup.

After what he went through, Collins does not see himself going back to Sudan to continue his career.

Collins, who has been in Sudan for three-and-a-half years after arriving from Mauritius club Richie Moore Rovers, said he lost everything he owned in the country, including $20,000 (£16,000) cash.

He was combining football with some business on the side, importing hair extensions into the country for sale, and had taken delivery of a shipment eight days before the fighting broke out, which is now lost.

“There are many who came back with nothing. At least I came back with a blanket. He came back with just his food,” he said on arrival in Abuja, pointing to a man with a black polythene bag.

Intense clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s main paramilitary force have killed hundreds of people and sent thousands fleeing for safety, as a burgeoning civil war threatens to destabilize the wider region.

The clashes erupted in the middle of April amid an apparent power struggle between the two main factions of the military regime.

The Sudanese armed forces are broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler, while the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militia, follow the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.