Politics, Nigeria & Arrest Overseas.
We all hate Nigerian politicians, at least we can all agree on that! except, if your family is in the ruling class, at least we can all agree on that. We want the worse things possible to happen to them literally at any point, purely because of the state of our Nation and the sufferings of our people as we see every day. Like you I have never felt any sympathy for any Nigerian leader who finds him or herself in uncompromising situations, honestly, until I spoke to ex-Commissioner Ero in Italian Prison.
When I spoke to him for the first time, I started struggling with my blanket wish of “Fire on all Nigerian politicians”. I began fighting with myself to hear him as a human being and not a Nigerian Politician which he was at the time and trust me, these two species are different. After reconciling myself I listened to Osaze, and 5 minutes into our conversation I realised, this Nigerian politician has an important message and a huge part to play in it! He can liberate the sufferings of our Nigerian people in incarceration all over the World and help to repair our Country’s damaged reputation. His passion about doing the former was contagious, even over the phone, and at the end of our phone call I believed he was innocent because of the recklessness and impunity displayed by the Italian Justice System.
In any developed Country in the World, when you are wanted for questioning or arrest, you will be notified. It is when you fail to surrender that a warrant is issued for your arrest, these are simple basics. But the Italians have gotten away with ignoring protocol for so long that it is now normal to make an international arrest without following due process. Nobody will ask any questions as is the case with all Nigerians arrested overseas. Listening to the ex-commissioner’s story, he stated he was released by the freedom court on this technicality, but the Italian prosecutor found a way to correct his error in another department within the same court, on the same day, and re-arrested Osaze again before he was able to leave the building. What a system!
As a Nigerian traveller, it is dead easy to arrest anyone of us because it has been established all over the World that our Nigerian leaders do not care about its citizens. Secondly, we the Nigerian citizens automatically believe when any Nigerian is arrested abroad, they are guilty, unless of course it’s a member of our family and God help the person is not a politician.
Osaze Ero tasted what it is like to hope or rely on the Nigerian Government which he is part of. They disowned him like they do every normal Nigerian citizen in trouble abroad. He MUST have been more than disappointed. If you listened to any of his testimonies after his release, he said God placed destiny helpers everywhere along the way to help him. People from all over the world he did not know as commissioner donated and contributed to his legal bills to afford Italian Lawyers who fought for 18 months for his release.
Having said all this, the most important part is Osaze has told us that we have up to 400 of our brothers still stuck in the Italian Prison system without an iota of fair justice and these are the people he wants to fight for. He saw them, he lived with them, and he listened to their stories. He understands the experience first-hand of what it is like to be illegal immigrant running to another Country to survive, especially if they are black and from Africa. If you are Nigerian, it is worse because of how our people try to survive in these Countries without the right papers. It is no longer a secret that many Nigerians beg in the streets on Italy, others sell Marijuana and do all kinds of things to survive strictly because they do not have the right papers to work.
The former Commissioner, Osaze Ero is campaigning that the high numbers of Nigerians held in Maximum security prisons in Italy should be tried immediately for their crimes and not trump up mafia charges made up in Italy. They should not be serving 9, 10 years or more sentences for petty crimes because they cannot afford good legal representation. It is too easy for the Italian government to give the Nigerian Citizens and bad name and the Country a bad tag. He says we should fight for them and the reputation of our Country.
Honestly, I sincerely hope we can put our hatred for our politicians to one side and implore our politicians to use this opportunity, use Mr Osaze Ero , support him to gain freedom for our over 400 Nigerians locked up unjustly in Italy and start repairing the reputation of our beloved Country. We know somethings now and it has how the Nigerian Government responds now that matters. Also, Nigerians need answers as to why it took the arrest of a top Government official to uncover this story. What has the Nigerian ambassadors, consulates and Diaspora personnel working on to miss this?
Ironically, the former Commissioner is the first Nigerian Politician to have been arrested aboard and released without charge. I guess they abandoned him because his release was not in the script. He has found a bigger purpose and I wish him all the best in achieving it.
The Editor