Nigerian inmates in Saudi cry for help from Yar’Adua

By Ayo-Lawal Gbenoba - 20.01.2008

An appeal has gone to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to intervene in the case of the 13 Nigerians who are rotting away in a Saudi jail despite having completed their jail terms.

The jailed Nigerians, who thanked Yar’Adua for his concern for them, after reading about their plight in the Sunday Tribune of November 11, 2007, urged him to wade into the matter “urgently to prevent the Saudi authorities from executing us because three months after the president’s intervention, nothing has happened.

The 13 Nigerians involved are: Kazeem Afolabi, Abass Mojeed Akanni, Muritala Amoo, Nurudeen Sanni, Amin Gbenga Shobayo, Abass Azeez, Muhammed Abdullah Yusuff, Waheed Elebute, Saliu Amod Suberu, Hammed Abass, Nofiu Obadina and Nurudeen Owode Owoalade.

Initially jailed five years for allegedly being involved in a fight, claimed that, “in the first instance, we did not know anything about that fight. Our house only happened to be along the road where the fight taken we were picked from our different homes.

“Later in the course of our imprisonment, we were taken back to court and two years each were again added to our jail terms, making it a seven years jail term for each of us. It is baffling to us that a year after completing the unjust sentence, we are yet to be released from prison.

“We don’t know what is happening. One of us ran mad in prison while some of us fell seriously ill, without adequate care. Our condition is precarious and what is giving us fears is that we are not allowed access by anybody, not even from the Nigerian Embassy.

“We learnt that President Yar’Adua instructed, about three months ago, that our matter should be looked into by the foreign affairs minister but, till now, we are still in prison and there is no improvement in our situation.

“When things are like this, the Saudi authorities cannot be trusted because anything can happen. We fear that we may be executed, we are not safe. This is why we are making this appeal to President Yar’Adua.