The silent wails of Nigerians in foreign prisons

By EZUGWU OBINNA

During the 2014 National Conference, the Committee on Foreign Affairs led by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Ibrahim Gambari put at over 752, the number of Nigerians incarcerated in the United Kingdom alone as at 2012.

“It is alleged that not long ago, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, proposed that Nigerian prisoners serving jail terms in Britain be repatriated to Nigeria in a prisoner exchange programme,” the committee stated while considering whether Nigerian prisoners abroad could be brought back to the country to complete their jail terms.

“It is alleged that there are over 752 Nigerians in British jails, about 700 in China, 500 in India and 96 in Indonesia as at 2012, 23 of whom are on death row.”

But the committee members were not under any illusions. Even as they opined that it was the responsibility of Nigeria to protect its citizens anywhere they are, and favoured prison swap, they were not unaware of the fact that Nigerian prisons are already grossly overcrowded. They noted that given that the country has its hands full and has below standard prisons, there is a limit to what it can do in that regard.

The UK prisoners are only a minute proportion however, there are Nigerians imprisoned in almost every country on the planet, including many African countries. During the same conference, the committee on foreign policy revealed that there are over 16,300 Nigerians in foreign jails for drug related offences. Another shocking revelation put the number of Nigerian women imprisoned in Canada alone at 3,719. Back in 2012, the then Chairman of House of Reps Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Honourable Abike Dabiri disclosed that 500 Nigerians, including a 70-year-old grandmother were in Brazilian prisons.

As at 2010, the then Nigerian Ambassador to Germany Mr. Abdul Rimdap said over 550 Nigerians were in prisons in Germany.  In January this year, Ambassador Ademola Oluseyi Onafowokan, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana decried what he called the increasing number of Nigerians in Ghanaian prisons, noting that majority of foreign prisoners in Ghana were Nigerians.

“Firstly, I agree with you that majority of them are Nigerians, but should they be Nigerians? We shouldn’t even be saying such things with pride because it is a national disgrace. Every country we go, their prisons are filled with Nigerians, why? The Tribune quoted Onafowokan as wondering.

“It is unfortunate, but if you are ready to take the risk, then you must be ready to dance the music. Nigeria High Commission doesn’t have the kind of money to build prisons. We are just here to do our core duties,” he was quoted as saying.

In countries like the United States, the number is by no means less; it is in hundreds with many such as Kayode Lawrence sentenced to as much as 25 years. In the Middle East, the trend continues. In February 2013, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Nigeria, Foaud Rajeh disclosed that 189 Nigerians were in prison in his country. There are equally a reasonably high number in the UAE and other countries of the sub-region.

The above paints an ugly picture, of course, but there are even worse scenarios. The recent execution of four Nigerian prisoners in Indonesia over drug offences elicited reactions in the country. Some said it was fine; others condemned the actions of the Indonesian authority as barbaric. But one truth is uncontestable, it has further added to the already battered image of Nigeria.

The debate over whether or not the executed Nigerian citizens deserved death continued in the country even days afterwards with many insisting that since they were aware that the penalty for drug peddlers in Indonesia is death, they deserved the consequences. Ordinarily, such assertion may seem correct, at least in a perfect world. But what those who make this argument fail to realize is that it is not a perfect world and every individual is bound to make mistakes at one point or the other. But even more, one cannot say with a measure certainty that the Indonesian judicial system is devoid of imperfections.

There have been accounts of Nigerians who were arrested on false charges, imprisoned and later executed. It was revealed for instance that one of those executed in the past was only handed a bag containing drugs at the airport by someone who asked him to hold it for him for awhile, and he had innocently accepted.

While the debate over recent executions raged, a revelation came that a certain Nigerian was framed up by a jealous man who planted drugs in his house because he was dating a “beautiful” Indonesian girl. The Nigerian was said to have been consequently incarcerated with his manhood severed by the man in question before he ended up in prison. There are many allegations like that but the Nigerian authorities are not in the least interested.

In an interview with journalists sometime ago, the President of Nigerians in Diaspora, Indonesian branch, Mr. Kalu Joseph Okafor noted that the Indonesian security agencies show little or no regard for Nigerians there mainly because the country’s embassy is ineffective.

“I don’t think Nigerians bring much trouble to them,” Okafor had noted. “Most of the troubles Nigerians have here are brought to our union, and then we would approach the embassy. We bear more of the burden as a union than the embassy. The problem we have here is that Nigerian government does not behave like other governments.”

“We have been saying that if a Nigerian commits an offence, the law is there to try him. Arbitrary killings of Nigerians should be stopped. We have lost more than 90 Nigerians within a year and they were just killed on allegations.”

“When you look at the quantity of drugs that is said to be recovered from these Nigerians, they are far less than the amount that is recovered from other nationals, yet nothing happens to these people. But if it were to be a Nigerian, he would probably have been killed,” he said.

Okafor further opined that all that happens because they know that Nigeria cannot do anything and the embassy does not care. According to him, “the Indonesian will tell you to your face to go away that you don’t have an embassy. The embassy here is just like a small mosque.”

“There was one particular case that involved a Nigerian named Hillary. The court tried and acquitted him but the police said no, that he could not be acquitted. They started beating him there and dragged him back to detention room and he is now on death row.”

“We have a most recent case of a Nigerian whose genital was cut off, I have the picture. The man wrote a letter to our ambassador here, he wrote to our union and also sent us the pictures. I went with the junior secretary to see him in prison; even Indonesian prison officials were very angry and could not understand how a human being could have inflicted such an injury on someone else. Up till this day, he is still attending court sessions with the injury.” Okafor explained.

The above summarizes the ineffectiveness of the Nigerian authorities in protecting Nigerians abroad. While the recent executions saw a spirited fight by Australia in a bid to secure the release of her citizens involved, Nigeria was only compelled to make an input by the heat it generated in the media.

The argument that those involved deserved what they got may not be entirely correct considering that even Indonesia itself fights spiritedly when its own citizen are sentenced to death in other countries. It is noted that as much as 189 Indonesians abroad have had their death sentences suspended in the past three years at the request of the country’s government. And even presently, it is fighting to secure the release of over 360 of her citizens on death row abroad.

While eleven more Nigerians, according to recent reports by The Citizen are said to be on death row in Indonesia, while as much as 120 are also said to be facing similar fate in China. They are very likely going to end up on the hang man’s noose. At least, one cannot be confident that there would be any effort from the home front to intervene in their cases, even if to make sure they are not executed on false charges.

Commenting on this ugly situation, Barr Onyekachi Ubani, former Prsident of Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos State, noted that Nigerians are unjustly tried and locked up accordingly overseas while the government shows no interest.

“Nigerians are unjustly tried and locked up in foreign countries and our embassies in those countries do not do anything about it. Not just those who are locked up, if you have an issue and go to them, they don’t attend to you,” he noted.

“The Nigerian government doesn’t even treat the citizens well here, is it those outside that they will treat well? It is the same thing. They just don’t care.”

The situation is obviously as bad, there are those in Malaysia as well, a good number too, and in many other nations. It behooves the authorities to begin to take into consideration the plight of these Nigerians whose wails have thus far gone unheeded.