The Nigerian government has taken up with Cote d'Ivoire the case of a group of traders from Sokoto State who were arrested and detained without charge or trial after travelling to Abidjan on a trading trip. According to Channels Television, the traders had made the journey by road before they were thrown into the notorious MACA Prison in the Ivorian city, where they were held for an extended period without being brought before a court.
Five surviving traders have now been released and returned, following sustained diplomatic engagements by the Nigerian Mission in Cote d'Ivoire and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The intervention brought to an end a detention that had left the men cut off from any legal process, and their release was presented as the result of persistent efforts by Nigerian diplomatic channels to secure their freedom.
The case, however, was not without loss, as one of the detainees, Murtala, died after falling ill while in detention, in what the account linked to inadequate medical care during the period the men were held. His death cast a shadow over the release of the others and turned the episode into a matter that the Nigerian authorities have vowed to pursue further with their Ivorian counterparts.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, questioned why Nigerian authorities had not been informed of the arrest and detention of the citizens in the first place. She noted that this omission had delayed consular intervention, leaving the traders without timely support from their own government during a critical period of their ordeal abroad.
According to the minister, the traders faced language barriers and had no access to legal representation while in detention, and were subject to harsh conditions throughout the time they were held. She also raised concern that the traders' phones, money, goods and other personal belongings, allegedly seized at the time of their arrest, had not been returned to them following their release.
The minister called on Ivorian authorities to ensure that the Nigerian embassy in Abidjan is promptly notified whenever Nigerian nationals are detained, so that consular assistance can be provided without delay. She also urged that Nigerians held in the country be treated with dignity, framing the demand as part of the protection owed to citizens who find themselves in difficulty abroad.
In response, the Ivorian ambassador assured the minister that he would immediately relay the federal government's concerns to the authorities in Abidjan. He pledged to communicate Nigeria's request for a full investigation into the matter, compensation for the victims and their families, and measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents involving Nigerian nationals in Cote d'Ivoire.