Lawrence Enyoghasu

“I have only four minutes to talk to you and the rest six to speak to my family members,” Emeka Stanley, one of the Nigerians languishing in Chinese prisons on trump-up charges, told this reporter.

The 38-years-old Nigerian from Anambra State is currently serving jail term in Number 2 Prisons, Beijing, China. He was arrested for allegedly aiding drug peddlers living in the same compound with him. In fact, to speak with the reporter, Emeka had to route his call from China through United Arab Emirates.  He could not afford to waste a second which was why when the connection came through he went straight to what he had to say.

“We Nigerians here are suffering,” he stated somberly. “The most painful of it all is that we are not given the opportunity as citizens of other countries are. They tell us to obey all their laws and help them in the production of some equipment and we do all these yet we are not given the reduced sentence promised.  They always bring up new charges after one has completed his jail term or about to finish his sentence.”

Maltreatment extra-ordinary

Emeka said the excruciating pain they go through was also worsened by Nigerian embassy’s alleged refusal to come to their aid. He praised the former President Goodluck Jonathan for his care during his tenure. 

“When all these arise, we always call on our embassy but the response kills our spirit more than from what we are suffering.  It is approximately five years now since we have seen or heard from anybody from Nigerian embassy. When former President Goodluck Jonathan was in office, he tried his best for us. There was never a time we called the embassy that they did not respond but that is not the case now. The embassy sees us as criminals. Chinese government has made arrangement for us to spend our jail term in our country but the embassy has not followed this up.

“Their absence has given Beijing police authority to maltreat us.  I am due to leave this place by May 14 yet I am afraid something might come up. The truth is that the Chinese person with whom I was charged with the same crime has left the prison since three years ago.”

When asked how many Nigerians are in various prisons across China, he said that there are about 180.  He said that the tales from the prison tend to point to racism.  He said that before they are fed they are asked to do all sorts of dehumanizing things.  “What is keeping most persons back here is the lack of communication between our embassy and Chinese government,” he said.  “The Beljing police here have learnt a new method. When it is time to feed us they would asked us to dance in circles, whoop and scream like monkeys and hold up the flag of their country before proceeding to have our meal.  Another thing is whenever the president of their country is talking, they would ask us to stand up or salute as he talked. We dare not oversleep here. There are a lot of things going on within the walls of this prison. They intentionally give Nigerians harsh treatment in order to harvest our body parts when we die.” 

Atuchukwu’s pathetic case

Speaking about other Nigerians suffering there, he said that part of the people who are currently dying in the Beijing prison is one Chukwudi Brown Atuchukwu and Innocent Ofege. While the former has been remanded in prison for 18 years awaiting trial, he said, the latter has gone mad.

“There is this man who has spent 18 years in two different prisons in China, Atuchukwu”, he said. “He was accused of smuggling drugs but there is no evidence, so the police remanded him in the prison and he has spent 18 years of hard labour there. His matter is being prolonged because nobody has ever come to ask after him. Now, he is suffering from lumbar vertebra, shoulder hyperplexia, high blood pressure and spinal ache.”

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But when this reporter tried to speak with Atuchukwu he could not make much of what he was saying.  He sounded somewhat incoherent. Throughout the time he was on the phone with the reporter, he kept on saying that he would like to see his mother before he dies. “I don’t want to die in this country. I want to see my mother before I die,” he pleaded.

But following some arrangements made by his family members for the reporter to speak with his younger brother, Nnamdi, in Qatar, a more coherent account of his suffering in prison emerged. Providing some insights into what his brother has passed through, Nnamdi said Atuchukwu who is known as the first African to establish a legitimate business in China before he became the current oldest African prisoner, travelled to China in 1999.

“Although he has been going to China from Korea where he was based, he moved to China because of a new office he was able to secure there,” he explained. “He travelled to Korea in 1995.”  But Nnamdi alleged that because of his brother’s status, he had made many enemies both within the government circle and outside it.

“At a point, they set him up. I won’t call it offence but they suspected him to be a drug baron. They didn’t get anything incriminating on him. He had a legitimate business in China. He had a Chinese licence. The government gave my brother 20 years license with which he registered as Ben Brown Agu Co. Cn, As at then, he used to import toothpick and baby beds, baby sitters and PVC leather,” he stated.

Nnamdi throws light on his elder brother’s ordeal

Narrating the genesis of his brother’s ordeal, Nnamdi claimed that it was a frame-up akin to a Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI)-style sting operation.

“They caught one Pilipino girl by name Angela with substance,” he claimed. “They invited my brother to the hotel. He went to meet the girl and they caught him too. He was asked if he knew the girl and he said no but the girl said someone sent her from Venezuela to my brother. At the end, they started beating and torturing him.

Later, they took him to a hospital in China to treat him of the bruises he sustained in the course of the beating. They kept him in an underground cell for two years. He had his food, bath and defecated there throughout those two years.

“To worsen the situation, he was subjected to horrific human ill-treatment, Whenever they want to bring him out, they would put rope on his neck and drag him out and that was how he developed a spinal cord injury because he sat in a particular position for the two years. He was then taken for trial after all his wounds had healed and given a death sentence.

“After seven years, the death sentence was commutted to life jail following his appeal. After eight years, following another appeal, it was changed from life jail to 20 years in prison. But instead of including the years he had already served, they started him on a new date. Going by the legal development, it means he is not expected to come out of jail until 2032. This makes him the oldest Nigerian prisoner in China.”

Atuchukwu, he reveals, is currently suffering from lungs disease and spinal ache at Number 2 Beijing Prison, China.