The House of Representatives has invited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa over the alleged maltreatment of Nigerians in Ethiopia.
Dabiri-Erewa and Tuggar were summoned on Thursday following a motion raised by the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda, and 10 others on the victimization, maltreatment and forced imprisonment of Nigerians, including air travellers, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The others are Hon. Abdussamad Dasukki, Hon. Laori Kwamoti Bittrus, Hon. Aliyu Madaki, Hon. Unyime Idem, Hon. Nkwonta Chris, Hon. Abbas Adogun, Hon. Kabiru Ahmadu, Hon. Ibe O. Osonwa and Hon. Ginger Onwusibe.
According to a recent report by SaharaReporters, some Nigerians detained in Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital city, were being brutalised by the country’s policemen.
According to the report, a Nigerian inmate at the Kaliti prison, a maximum-security prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Uchenna Nwanneneme, died of an undisclosed ailment.
Nwanneneme, who hailed from Anambra State, was among about 300 inmates of Nigerian descent at the Ethiopian prison facility.
They were arrested over allegations of possession of hard drugs and money laundering.
Leading debate on the motion, Chinda alleged that one Paul Ezike in a “safe our soul message” circulated a message at the instance of a Nigerian allegedly arrested and put in Ethiopia prison.
He stated that some Nigerians were serving sentences at the Chaota Maximum Security Prison and other Ethiopian prisons and that many of them were travellers who used the Ethiopian airport as a transit point.
According to the lawmaker, they were indiscriminately arrested at the Ethiopian Airport in Addis Ababa, taken to the hospital, and forcefully injected with some substances before being transferred to prison.
The lawmaker added that Nigerians in Addis Ababa and all over the world should be protected and accorded the same protection Nigeria gives to foreigners in Nigeria.
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He also corroborated SaharaReporter’s report that over 250 Nigerians were presently serving prison sentences in Ethiopia as a result of repeated attacks, adding that many might die in prison if immediate action was not taken to save them.
He explained that the Nigerians are not only mistreated, but also subjected to excruciating conditions, inadequate nourishment, and lack of medication.
