The Federal Government on Thursday summoned the Indonesian Ambassador
to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto and protested the execution of four
Nigerians killed for trafficking drugs to the Asian country, despite
appeals.
The Undersecretary, Economic and Consular Affairs Department of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador, Bokunolu Onemola, who met with
Purwanto in Abuja, conveyed Nigeria’s position to the envoy.
He said the men should not have been executed because of the robust relationship between Nigeria and Indonesia.
The Indonesian government had executed by firing squad Jamiu Owolabi
Abashin, 50, Martin Anderson, 50, Okwudili Oyatanze, 41, and Sylvester
Obiekwe Nwolise, 47, and other nationals for drug trafficking, on
Tuesday.
But Purwanto in an interview with journalists after the meeting with
Onemola, insisted that the execution of the convicts was carried out
after all legal proceedings had been exhausted.
He said the case had been on for 10 years and Indonesia needed to
make sure adequate opportunity was given to the convicts within the
limit of the law, stressing that his government suspended the moratorium
on death penalty due to the gravity and dangerous impact of the drugs
on the citizens.
“There was nothing we could do for those four Nigerians because every
legal process was completed and only then did the government of
Indonesia implement the decision of the court,” the envoy stated.
He explained that Indonesia “suffers from the harsh reality of drug
trafficking as about 4.5 million of our citizens especially the youths,
are affected by narcotics,” adding that only about 1.8 million of them
had been rehabilitated.
He added that between 33 and 50 victims of the drugs die every month, describing it as unfortunate.
On the issue of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between both
countries, Purwanto said ,“Indonesia will be happy to do that but
unfortunately we do not have the legal basis.We have to wait for a new
legislation in Indonesia but then we have to convince our members of
parliament to do that.”
Commenting on the incident, Onemola said that irrespective of the
fact that Nigeria had protested the executions on the basis of the
subsisting friendly relations between both countries, Nigerians must
desist from drug trafficking.
He added that Nigeria would not recall its ambassador to Indonesia because of the executions.
He said, “One message I would like to convey to my compatriots is
that they should know that drug offences in Indonesia attract capital
punishment and our appeal is that they should avoid going to these
countries to commit these offences because we cannot change their laws.
“They are a sovereign nation, we can only appeal to them, but our citizens should know this and desist from drug trafficking.”