Kanyi Okeke
At least 18 Nigerians arrested and tried for trafficking in hard drugs and various criminal offences are to die by hanging in Indonesia, National Mirror can authoritatively revealed.
This is coming on the heels of the execution of one Tochukwu Udeoji in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, two years ago for alleged drug dealing, despite Federal Government’s intervention. Sources close to the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Nurhadi Djazuli, said the involvement of the Nigerians in drug possession, trafficking and other immigrations offences in the country put the convicts on the wrong sides of the law. Though officials of the Indonesian Embassy in Lagos failed to confirm the report, sources said Djazuli, informed the Federal Government about the development a couple of weeks ago.
“The ambassador has intimated the Nigerian government with the development. At a diplomatic briefing recently, he explained the details and expressed his government’s constraints over the matter. He said as an Islamic country, Indonesia does not negotiate capital punishment for such offences,” a Foreign Affairs Ministry source said.
Reacting to development, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, confirmed the conviction of the Nigerians to National Mirror. He said that the Indonesian government had adequately briefed Nigeria on the activities of the convicts. Ashiru, in an exclusive interview with National Mirror, said government had continued to plead with the Indonesian government over the implementation of the court judgment. “We have been holding discussions with the Indonesian government, pleading for clemency on the matter. I cannot tell what their decision on the matter is for now.”
He added that the position of Jakarta on the matter is understandable because their law expressly prohibits drug trafficking, “but in this case, it stipulates capital punishment, unlike ours which provides for various terms of imprisonment.” The minister explained that the Indonesian government had also informed Nigeria that “it does not spare its own nationals convicted over the crimes, and that reversing the sentences on the convicts on the grounds of nationality will amount to double standards.” He called on the media and other well-meaning Nigerians to educate the people on the consequences of committing such heinous crimes like drug trafficking and money laundering which can bring odium to the nation and earn them capital punishment.
