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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government is to recall Nigerian Ambassador to Indonesia, Usman Ogah, following the manhandling and arrest of a Nigerian diplomat in Jakarta, Indonesia, by immigration officials.
The move comes after Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, summoned Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Usra Harahap, to express the displeasure of the government over the ill treatment of the Nigerian diplomat, identified as Ibrahim.
He was reportedly accosted by Indonesian police when he went to a supermarket. The video shows the man shouting “I can’t breathe” as he was being held down in a vehicle by several men.
Onyeama, who briefed journalists yesterday in Abuja, said when the ministry noticed the video on social media where the diplomat was restrained by his neck in a moving car, it immediately contacted the ambassador in Indonesia who gave a verbal account of what transpired.
Onyeama said the envoy confirmed that the video was indeed of a Nigerian diplomat saying the breach in the treatment the diplomat as contained in the Vienna Convention took place during a round-up by Indonesian immigration officials while searching for irregular migrants in the country.
Onyeama said the first thing the ministry did was to request the Nigerian ambassador to submit to the ministry, a full and comprehensive report of what happened and to immediately reach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia to lodge a formal and strong complaint against the actions of the immigration officers as it violated the Vienna Convention.
“Yesterday, we received a full and comprehensive report from the Nigerian Ambassador in Indonesia, which we have studied and reinforces our previous position that there was absolutely no justification whatsoever for this treatment for this kind of behaviour against not only to a diplomat, a Nigerian diplomat, but even if it had taken place against any Nigerian citizen, was totally unacceptable. So, what we have decided to do is to recall for consultations immediately, our Nigerian Ambassador in Jakarta, in Indonesia and we will have full consultations at the highest level and decide what next step to take, including a review, of course, of our relations with Indonesia,” Onyeama said.
Onyeama said the ministry had also requested the Indonesian government to take severe and appropriate sanction against the immigration officials involved in the act of brazen criminality.
