A Federal High Court in Abuja has issueds issued a directive ordering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to bring back over 270 Nigerians currently imprisoned or detained at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia.
Justice Inyang Ekwo delivered the judgment on November 14, compelling the two agencies to receive and return the Nigerian detainees after the Ethiopian government declared that it had no budget to provide for their welfare.
“I find that the applicants have made a credible case for this court to issue Order of Mandamus to compel the 1st and 2nd respondents to perform their statutory functions and I so hold,” Justice Ekwo ruled.
The suit was filed by Sunday Mmaduagwu, Henry Anyanwu, and Leonard Okafor, who took the matter to court on behalf of the Nigerians detained in the Ethiopian prison.
They sued NIDCOM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Senate, House of Representatives, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) for failing to address the detainees’ plight.
The applicants sought “a declaration that the fundamental rights of the applicants as provided by Sections 33, 34, 35 of the 1999 Constitution… had been violated by the 1st — 4th respondents,” and demanded “an order compelling the 1st & 2nd respondents to receive and return Nigerians imprisoned, and detained in Kaliti Ethiopia prisons, consequent upon the decision and declaration of the Ethiopian Government that they have no budget for their food, firewood, medicine, and any other form of welfare and on the face of their call for Nigeria to take them back to Nigeria.”
In the affidavit supporting the motion, Mmaduagwu explained his personal connection to the detainees, including his cousin, Remigius Anikwe, who was imprisoned in Kaliti Prison.
He stated that since arriving at the prison to visit his cousin, he discovered that over 270 Nigerians were detained under harsh conditions, with many of them unaware of the charges against them.
He described the treatment of Nigerians in detention as “shocking,” with any exchange of words with the local inmates leading to mass beatings, resulting in the collapse and death of some detainees.
“Some young Nigerians who were on transit with visa are reported to have been arrested, dispossessed of their money and valuable properties and false witnesses suborned to testify against them in a foreign language,” Mmaduagwu said.
“Many are detained and denied the opportunity of proper hearing by any court and till date, they do not know the reason for their arrest. They are also denied access to their families, the outside world and even the services of a lawyer, making their family assume they are dead.”
Mmaduagwu further alleged that detainees were subjected to torture by prison officials. “Some of them had to admit offences they did not commit after prolonged torture by the prison officials,” he said.
The situation, according to Mmaduagwu, became even more dire as the conditions worsened. “NiDCOM… stated that what the detained Nigerians in Kaliti Prison are given as food cannot be fed to rats,” he said, describing the inadequate food provided to the prisoners.
He also detailed the lack of medical care, noting that “they were not given any drugs for any form of sickness, except paracetamol, despite people suffering from kidney failure with swollen legs.”
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“A lot of them are dying and they were informed by the prison officials that the Ethiopian government has asked the Nigerian Embassy to come and take their people back having no budget to feed them and provide medical aid,” Mmaduagwu said.
“Every week, about two or three deaths are recorded. They have not been buried neither have their corpse been brought to Nigeria,” he added.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo acknowledged the applicants’ motives, which he found reasonable. “It is rationally expected that a citizen of a country who is abroad and who needs the intervention of his/her country of origin will expect the requisite succour from the home country when occasion arises for such,” the judge remarked.
He further emphasized that the Nigerian government could not avoid its responsibility to its citizens abroad. “The 1st and 2nd respondents cannot be allowed to argue their way out of their respective statutory functions,” Justice Ekwo said.
While the court ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NIDCOM to facilitate the return of the detained Nigerians, it rejected the applicants’ request for a declaration that their rights had been violated by the respondents.
Justice Ekwo’s ruling comes as a significant development in the ongoing issue of Nigerians facing harsh conditions in foreign prisons, underlining the obligation of the Nigerian government to protect the welfare of its citizens abroad.
