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.”
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