By Temitope Ponle, Abuja.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) says the Federal Government will demand a full investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of a Nigerian lady, Chizoba Favour Eze, in an Ethiopian prison.
The commission made the declaration in a statement issued by its Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Mr Abdur-Rahman Balogun, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Eze reportedly died after she was allegedly brutalised by the Ethiopian police.
According to multiple sources, the young woman died from injuries she sustained after she was brutalised by police personnel attached to the Kaliti prison, a maximum-security facility in Addis Ababa.
The statement quoted the Chairman of NIDCOM, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, as saying that the commission was in contact with the Nigerian mission in Ethiopia and that the circumstances that led to Eze’s death would be thoroughly investigated.
In the statement, Dabiri-Erewa expressed concern over the reported conditions of some Nigerians serving various jail terms in Ethiopia.
She said that most of the cases were drug-related.
The NiDCOM chief also said the Nigerian mission in Ethiopia had proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from the Nigerian Correctional Service on the transfer of sentenced persons to Nigeria.
She, however, said that the Federal Government was awaiting a response from Ethiopia.
Dabiri-Erewa said that although the Ethiopian Government granted amnesty to Nigerian prisoners in 2019, a number of them still found their way back to the country and allegedly committed the same drug-related crimes and were re-arrested.
The NIDCOM boss condoled with the family of Chizoba, who reportedly died on March 12.
