Following the allegation of the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), challenging the assertion of the Federal Government that 60 Nigerian prisoners are in the process of being repatriated from Tanzania prisons, asking it to show evidence of such repatriation, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has expressed readiness to work with HURIWA.
This was made known in a statement on Sunday by the Head, Media and Public Relations Unit NIDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, where he said that the Legal department of the Commission is ready to work with HURIWA on this, and other relevant matters.
Balogun, while elaborating on the issues raised by HURIWA in his previous statement, said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the said statement claimed that 60 Nigeria prisoners are due for repatriation out of 73. The Nigerian Mission in Tanzania under the able leadership of Dr. Sahobi Gada, the Ambassador, has worked tirelessly for years to achieve that.
“The Ambassador was in Nigeria in January 2020 to discuss arrangements necessary for the proposed repatriation before the break out of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The process is expected to continue after everything returns to normal”.
He, however stated that the mission is hoping the Tanzanian government will consider clemency for some categories of Prisoners during this pandemic, just as President Muhammadu Buhari has done.
Meanwhile, Balogun took a swipe at the group, noting that it sounds suspicious that HURIWA who is demanding evidence of the efforts of the Ambassador on the release of the prisoners could not name its own source in Tanzania.
He emphasized that this is a serious issue that cannot be attributed to an ‘unnamed source’.
Recall that The Sight News published an article where HURIWA urged NiDCOM to show pictorial evidence of the 60 Nigerian prisoners released from Tanzania prison.
