At least four Nigerians recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine have been k!lled on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the matter.
DailyNigerian exclusively gathered that the slain Nigerians — Adam Anas, Akinlawon Tunde Quyuum, Abugu Stanley Onyeka and Balogun Ridwan Adisa, were recruited on the false pretense of “security job” but ended up being conscripted and deployed to the war front after three weeks of training.
While the quartet of Messrs Anas, Quyuum Onyeka as well as Abubakar Adamu (the only survivor) traveled together in November 2025, Mr Adisa was recruited earlier in the year.
Sources said the Nigerian fighters d!ed on the frontline on different dates between December 2025 and January 2026.
Investigations by this newspaper shows that the Russian military did not contact the families of the fallen fighters, just as they warned other African mercenaries against reporting the incidents to the families of the deceased fighters.
It was gathered that the news of d3ath of the four Nigerians was first broken in a secret WhatsApp group opened by the African mercenaries.
“We heard about the death of our brother through one of his colleagues. His picture was posted in a secret WhatsApp group. Our family was never contacted by the Russian authorities,” said a relative of a deceased conscript, Adam Anas.
The travails Mr Adam and his co-travelers began after an informal acceptance of the “security job offer” by a Nigerian agent identified as Emiola Muhammad
The Russian Embassy in Abuja, in an apparent connivance with the Nigerian recruiting agent, granted the Nigerian mercenaries a single-entry tourist visa without biometric capture and fulfilling other application requirements.
Although the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Nigeria has drawn the attention of applicants that submission must be made in person and that “reliance on a third party may incur a visa denial”, yet the conscripts were granted visas without submission in person.
The mercenaries were promised a tempting monthly salary of 200,000 ruble (about 3.6million naira) as well as allowances and other perks.
The publication gathered that on arrival at the Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, the four Nigerian job-seekers were immediately diverted away from border control queues to another passage, exempting them from immigration clearance
In a letter obtained by the publication, the Russian military subtly directed the airport authorities to give them entry clearance for contract enlistment into the Russian Army.
In the letter, which was addressed to the Chief of the Border Control Detachment of the Federal Security Service of Russia at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Colonel L. Yu. Yashin, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said Nigerian foreign citizens are scheduled to arrive at the recruitment center for contract military service (2nd category) in Yaroslavl (31 Dobrynina Street, Yaroslavl) this November to sign a military service contract.
Immediately after arrival, the Nigerian job-seekers were therefore asked to sign the contract written in Russian without English translation.
Part of the contract is translated as follows, “during the period of military service under the contract, [you are required] to conscientiously perform all general, official, and special duties of military personnel established by legislative and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.
“To be faithful to the Military Oath (obligation), to selflessly serve the people of the Russian Federation, to courageously and skillfully defend the Russian Federation (paragraph three of Article 16 of the Internal Service Regulations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10, 2007 No. 1495 (hereinafter referred to as the Internal Service Regulations).”
After signing the contract without translation, they were taken to a military facility where they underwent training for three weeks.
“Our passports and phones were seized immediately, but some of us managed to sneak in a phone. After spending hours at a camp in Moscow, they waited till night time before driving us on a five-hour road trip to the military camp,” said one of the African conscripts.
A voice note sent by one of the slain Nigerian fighters, Anas Adam, to his friend paints the precarious situation he found himself in.
“Please pray for us, we are in the middle of a forest. It is a two-week journey on foot, and the road is dangerous as there are so many drones. So far we have trekked for four days. We are one camp away from our destination. Because of the presence of drones, they are sending us one after another,” Mr Anas, who left behind a wife and three young children, said in his last voice note to his friend.
When contacted, the Russian Embassy didn’t respond to our correspondent’s enquiry on the matter.
However, the spokesman for the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the ministry was unaware of the incident
“It is a sad development and quite unfortunate but the Ministry is not aware”, Mr Ebienfa said.
Late last year, Ukraine claimed that more than 1,400 people from 36 African nations are fighting for Russia.
In November 2025, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the contracts Africans are forced to sign are equivalent to signing a d3ath sentence.
According to a December report by the French Institute of International Relations, Russian authorities confiscate African recruits’ passports and serve as cannon fodder in order to make incursion into dangerous frontiers
A Nigerian who was recruited to fight for Russia, Abubakar Adamu, is calling on the federal government to save his soul and repatriate him to Nigeria.
Writing through his lawyer, Mr Adamu said he was lured to accept a security guard job in Russia but upon arrival, he was asked to go to war.
“We are solicitors, our services having been retained by Abubakar Adamu (herenafter referred to as “our client”) and on whose firm instruction we write you this notice.
“Our brief revealed that our Client, a Nigeria Citizen, is currently detained within the Russian Federation (11740 Military Division Unit) under the guise of military enlistment.
“Our brief further revealed that our client was recruited under the false pretense of serving as a civilian security guard. However, upon arrival in Russia, his travel documents were confiscated, and he was coerced into signing documents written exclusively in the Russian language without the assistance of an interpreter. These Documents, which he later discovered were enlistment papers into the Russian Armed Forces, were signed under a fundamental mistake as to their character and content,” said the letter.
The letter further urged the Russian military to return his confiscated passports and facilitate his safe return to Nigeria.
“We hereby formally notify the Embassy of the following legal positions:
- Doctrine of Non Est Factum: The purported enlistment contract is void. There was a total absence of mind and pen as our client did not understand the nature of the document he was signing due to the language barrier and lack of translation services.
- Fundamental Misrepresentation: The contract is repudiated ab initio due to the non-disclosure of its true nature and the deceitful tactic used to lure him into military service.
- Violation of International Law: Holding a foreign national against their will and forcing them into combat service violate fundamental Human rights and international protocols regarding the treatment of foreign civilians.
In light of the above, we demand that the Russian authorities immediately:
- Cease any military deployment of Abubakar Adamu;
- Return his confiscated passport and travel documents; and
- Facilitate his safe and immediate repatriation to Nigeria.
“We look forward to your prompt cooperation.”
