After serving years in prison for drug trafficking in Indonesia, Nigerian Emmanuel Ihejirika was freed. He had earlier been given the death penalty.
In a statement released on Friday and signed by Gabriel Odu in the commission’s Public Relations Unit, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission I claimed that Ihejirika’s release was made possible by the pro bono work of Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian attorney with a Washington, DC, practice.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairman of NiDCOM and a former member of the House of Representatives, along with former Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Ojo Madueke, brought attention to the subject several years ago when a Nigerian delegation visited Indonesian jails in order to request clemency for Nigerians who were on death row.
Four Nigerians, one Indonesian, and one British national were put to death.
Ogebe took up Ihejirika’s case and took it all the way to the Indonesian Supreme Court, believing it to be a case of mistaken identity. The outcome of his legal efforts was Ihejirika’s freedom.
The statement stated that “Ogebe succeeded as he took the case up to the Supreme Court, and Ihejirika was finally let off the hook.”
During a meeting in Washington, DC, Dabiri-Erewa commended Ogebe, underlining his dedication and selflessness.
She emphasized the dire repercussions of drug trafficking in Indonesia and exhorted Nigerians to abstain from such offenses.
The release further stated that Dabiri-Erewa “re-emphasized that drug trafficking in Indonesia carries a death sentence and that Nigerians should abstain from crime.”
Patricia Alechenu, the Nigerian Charge d’Affaires in Indonesia, was also credited for helping to facilitate the release.
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