Paul Ohia
4 October 2009
Lagos — What makes Nigerian women bring out the best in them? The answer is simple. Threaten the life of any compatriot or make them undergo anguish and they become very avid.
When Dr. Dora Akunyili took over as the director-general of National Agency for Food and Drug Control (NAFDAC), she probably thought that it was like her usual high profile job where files would be passed to her table for signing and the days go by. But the lady was startled when she discovered how fake drugs posed a threat to life and had even taken the life of some Nigerians. She became obsessed and shouted to the high heavens. That did not do, she took action to stop the ugly trend and etched her name in gold.
Recently, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa was appointed Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora and obviously she thought it was a tea party.
Of course, the usual visit and dining with Nigerians in the Diaspora being hosted by such committees in overseas parliaments may have been her stereotypic conception of the position.
Alas, she stumbled on something along the line and her mien changed. The lawmaker representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency discovered that Nigerians were languishing in prisons in several countries. The lady parliamentarian found out that Libya has the highest number of Nigerians in their prisons with many of them on death row and some claiming innocence or having been jailed without fair trial.
The usual grin affixed to her face during meetings with well to do Nigerian in the Diaspora took a flight and a sudden glower surfaced.
"When has the penalty for illegal migration become death sentence or life incarceration" she queried and wondered why all Nigerians in Libya suddenly turned to criminals.
Almost at the risk of joining issues with the foreign ministry, she wanted the embassies in countries where those Nigerians were spending their time in prison to do something and get the citizens released.
She even wanted the Nigerian immigration to probe the migration status of Chinese in the country. She had identified China as one of the countries where Nigerians were languishing in jail and some even executed.
"Nigerians treat foreigners with respect, but you don't get that reciprocated outside this country and we want that to stop," she said.
"Some people have even sent us text messages and called us to tell us that some Chinese are living illegally in their neighbourhood, without being harassed," she said. "So, we are going to address that. We will invite the Nigeria Immigration Service and Chinese ambassador to Nigeria to come and brief us on the matter."
The lawmaker rejected earlier suggestion by China to cremate bodies of Nigerians already executed in their country. She blamed the Nigerian high commissions for the problems Nigerians face abroad.
"What could be the matter? Why should they be cremated? The way a lot of Nigerians are treated by our embassies is not good. If the embassies had done enough, this would not have happened. It is wicked to burn the bodies of our brothers; we will not accept it," she said.
On the Libyan angle, the results are beginning to be felt. THISDAY check revealed that Nigerian High Commission in Libya has since doubled its efforts to get Nigerians in the country's jails released. In fact, those on death row have been pardoned thanks to a spirited effort pub in by a NGO, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) who on hearing Dabiri-Erewa's complaints, mandated its lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, to get a stay of execution for the Nigerians on death row.
In a petition dated August 16 and signed by Falana the group stated that "According to our information, there are 14 Nigerians on death row that may be at risk of imminent secret execution."
However, figures by the Nigerian House of Representatives suggest that the number of Nigerians on death row in Libya may be up to 230. The Nigerians are said to have been convicted of offences such as murder, drugs and armed robbery."
"We are seriously concerned that those affected may not have received fair trial, and would like you to clarify whether the Nigerians were afforded: access to competent and effective legal representation; right to trial within a reasonable time or to a release; the right to trial by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law; the presumption of innocence; the right to an interpreter and to translation; the right to appeal to an independent and impartial tribunal, and fair trial guarantees during appeals," the organisation also said.
According to SERAP, any secret execution of the Nigerians on death row and other Africans that may be in similar situation will be inconsistent and incompatible with the resolutions on moratorium on executions adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly.
The group added that, "the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at its 44th Ordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2008 adopted a resolution calling on African States that still retain the death penalty to observe a moratorium on the execution of death sentences with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The resolution is similar to the one adopted by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in 2007."
The good news came last week when it was learnt that Libya has halted the executions.The North African country's adherence to the measure was made known in a paper titled Debating the Death Penalty: Experiences from Different Regions, dated September 25, 2009 and presented by a member of the African Commission, Ms Catherine Modupe Atoki, at the International Peace Institute in New York last week.
"The Commission requested from the President of Libya a provisional measure to stay execution pending the determination of the communication. Happily, the President obliged and for now there is a hold on the execution of the convicted persons," said Atoki who delivered the paper.
THISDAY has earlier inteviewed one of the prisoners, Miss Juliet Okoro, who claimed that the accusation of murder for which she has been placed on death row since 2000 was forged. Her indictment, she further claimed, followed no legal representation.
However, Okoro also confirmed to THISDAY that the Libyan President, Muammar Gaddafi had granted amnesty to the convicts who are waiting for the Nigerian embassy in Libya to sign some documents for their deportation.
Last week, more good news from Libya that the country as some of those who spoke to THISDAY from prison were deported to Lagos.
Miss Glory Paul-Amanze who earlier spoke from Jabida Prison in Tripoli said Nigerian embassy officials besieged the prisons to secure the release of those sentenced to life imprisonment and later pardoned. She was now speaking from Ago Palace way in Lagos.
"First of all we were told that our sentences have been reduced to 21 years imprisonment but later they came to tell us that we have been pardoned," she told THISDAY yesterday.
Paul-Amanze has been in prison since 2003.
According to her, another death row prisoner, Miss Juliet Okoro who spoke to THISDAY also has been pardoned and awaiting deportation.
This success recorded by the zealousness of Dabiri-Erewa underscores the importance of a committee such as hers and the need to grant her earlier request of a Diaspora Commission that may take some burdens off the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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