On June 9, 2007, the reality of the indignities and horrors visited on some Nigerians in Diaspora and the precarious times in which some of our compatriots live abroad came under focus with the vicious manhandling unto death of a Nigerian immigrant in Spain by Spanish immigration authorities.

The Nigerian youth, Osamuyia Aikpitanhi, died an untimely death aboard a Nigeria – bound Spanish airline, Iberia, after he had been severely beaten by Spanish immigration officials in a bid to forcibly repatriate him to Nigeria.

Reports say the man had been severely beaten and possibly injected with a substance to weaken him. He was gagged, bound foot and leg like a ram bound for the slaughter, dumped on the airplane and covered up with a sack so as not to arouse the attention and anger of other passengers on the flight. The young man is reported to have died few minutes after take off, possibly from the gagging, and was found mired in his own wastes.

The pathetic death of this young Nigerian has led to a flurry of protests from Nigerians in Diaspora who have written to the Spanish government, the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, the presidency, Federal Ministry of External Affairs, the Nigerian embassies worldwide, the Senate and House of Representatives over the inhuman treatment of Aikpitanhi which led to his death.

The contention of the group is that law enforcement agents in Spain, in a bid to deport the deceased from the country to Nigeria, employed measures that were unreasonable, inhuman and illegal. Nigerians in Diaspora want the Spanish government to be directly held responsible for Aikpitanhi’s death, as he was believed to have choked on the gag that was used on him even as he died in a most undignified and heart-rending manner.

The murder of Citizen Aikpitanhi by Spanish law enforcement agents is a very sad and pathetic incident. It is bad enough that the agents tied up a fellow human being with ropes and forcibly bundled him onto a plane bound for Nigeria. It is heart –rending that the young man lost his life in the process. Even sadder still is the scant regard which the matter seems to have elicited from the powers that be in Nigeria, with only a statement from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ahmed Hakeem-Baba, that the ministry had reached out to the Embassy of Nigeria in Spain to ascertain the remote cause of the death of the Nigerian.

The tragedy of the entire episode is not only that the man was more or less brazenly brutalized and set up to die before he was bundled onto an airplane, the flippant attitude of the Nigerian authorities to this extra-judicial battery unto death of this man is sure to lead to a recurrence of more of such gory incidents ,not only in Spain, but also in other parts of the world. Such incidents are bound to recur as long as our government and people do not take a serious view of such inhuman treatment leading to the loss of lives of our people.

Incidentally, Aikpitanhi is not the first Nigerian to lose his life in a dastardly repatriation bid. It will be recalled that about two years ago, another Nigerian life was lost in very similar circumstances. It is not known that the persons responsible for the death of that Nigerian in the earlier repatriation bid that went sour were ever brought to book.

The fact that this incident is repeating itself calls for a serious response from the government on matters of maltreatment of our nationals abroad.
Notwithstanding the right of Spain and all other countries to protect their borders and enforce their immigration laws, one should ordinarily expect that the enforcement of such laws would be done with some civility and without a resort to bestiality, as was the case in the handling of the deceased Nigerian.

More worrisome still is the fact that this penchant for the maltreatment of Nigerians is fast becoming the norm in many countries. Even certain African countries appear not to be left out of this tendency to view Nigerians with suspicion and visit them with every form of disrespect and maltreatment that their enforcement agents can muster.

Oftentimes, such inhuman treatment of Nigerians appear to borne out of malice against Nigerian citizens possibly because of some ills which some Nigerians in those parts of the world are believed to have perpetrated. Nigerians appear not to be seen to be covered under all the provisions of international Human Rights Conventions and Protocols.

This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue and the way to go about it is for our government and institutions to insist on the respect that is due to our people.
With this incident happening so early in the life of the new administration of President Yar’Adua, it should be used as a good opportunity to let the world know that the new regime will not tolerate such extra-judicial treatment of Nigerians anywhere in the world. This is one death that must be probed with the ultimate objective of determining the actual circumstances and the persons responsible for the Aikpitanhi’s death.

Although Spanish authorities have denied that the death had to do with racism, it is necessary to determine the role of that country’s immigration authorities in the sad incident.
The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Angel Lasada, at a news conference in Abuja, last week, said the Spanish authorities have launched two separate investigations into the case.

He disclosed that Aikpitanhi had been charged with several crimes ranging from rape to violent assault by 10 judges in Spain and three unsuccessful attempts had been made to deport him earlier. But one thing that is certain is that there is no offence the deportee could have committed that should warrant his beastly maltreatment by the Spanish immigration authorities.

Nigeria must insist on a quick conclusion of all the probes into this sad incident so that persons who contributed to this death can be made to pay for their crimes. The family of the deceased will have to be compensated for the irreparable loss.

Spain will also be expected to issue an apology to Nigeria and the Aikpitanhi family. This is one investigation that we should not allow either the Spanish or Nigerian authorities to sweep under the carpet.

Beyond the death of this young Nigerian, however, is the need for the government to address the problems that compel Nigerians to leave their country in droves to seek abode in foreign countries where they are mostly treated in ways that degrade their humanity.

The Federal Government will do well to make the country more conducive for Nigerians to earn a living and fulfil their potentials. The perennial unemployment problem should be addressed so that the youths can get gainful employment. The environment for business should be improved.

The energy crisis, in particular, should be addressed so that small-scale enterprises can thrive again.
Above all, we must all work to obtain the respect of the world so that our citizens are no longer treated as scum outside our shores. I sympathise with the family of the deceased young man and wish them the fortitude to bear this loss.