Execution of Nigerian drug traffickers

Although a lot of publicity attended the latest case, a disproportionate number of Nigerians get snared in drug-trafficking traps and faced almost certain execution in those countries.   Meanwhile as the federal government condemned the executions, news broke that there were in fact 132 Nigerians more  known to be in death rows in that region for […]

Although a lot of publicity attended the latest case, a disproportionate number of Nigerians get snared in drug-trafficking traps and faced almost certain execution in those countries.   Meanwhile as the federal government condemned the executions, news broke that there were in fact 132 Nigerians more  known to be in death rows in that region for drug offences They comprise  120 in China, 11 in Indonesia and 1 in Singapore.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Indonesia, Muhammed Suleiman lamented that even as the Nigerian government was trying to intervene in the matter, seven fresh cases emerged there. This makes the federal government’s request that the corpses of the executed individuals be repatriated for ‘decent burials’ in their communities rather odd.  Their relations could make such arrangements with the consular guidance of the Nigerian Mission. They may be Nigerians, but the conduct of these men cannot be described as heroic deserving of national recognition, because they were not engaged in any pursuit of Nigeria’s national interests. They were well aware of the laws of those countries and the dire consequences they spell out. Furthermore, before they were executed they went through a lengthy and exhaustive appeal process that included a final appeal to clemency.
The federal government was not alone in expressing its deep disappointment with the executions.  Australia and Brazil, whose nationals were among the executed, also expressed regrets.  The difference however is that, unlike Nigeria, the other countries have abolished capital punishment.
In the circumstances, rather than interfere in the judicial systems of other countries, no matter how distasteful others consider them to be, the federal government’s appeal in the wake of the executions in Indonesia, namely that Nigerians to be law abiding in other countries is the right way to go.  The government must also toughen its own anti-drug laws, because as they are presently constituted, they have not deterred unscrupulous persons of major trafficking zones of the world from exploiting loopholes in them and making Nigeria into an expanding transit point for trafficking to Europe and Asia. This must not be allowed to continue; otherwise weak institutional frameworks could bring the ‘drug problem’ on a large scale to Nigeria, with the consequences that this would cause.    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) needs to be vigorous in its campaign against drug trafficking, particularly for nationals travelling to other countries and better equipped to investigate and interdict drug merchants. Drug lords deploy many subterfuges, including promises of huge sums of money, to lure others to become drug couriers for them.
Some of the harrowing tales that have come out from those arrested for the offence reveal a profile of innocent travellers who unwittingly agree to ‘assist ‘ people they barely know in carrying innocuous looking parcels, only to be taken when these are discovered to contain prohibited drugs.
There are others who knowingly engage in the trafficking, and hope that chance would enable them evade law enforcement and them the prospect of getting rich through the lucrative but ultimately deadly trade would be realised.
In a grim way, the Indonesia executives, and the defence of the country’s drug trafficking laws by President Joko Widodo, despite international outcries and pleas for clemency and not-so-subtle diplomatic threat by the Australian government, illustrate virtues of the steadfastness in upholding and applying the provisions of the laws of the land.  A nation’s law may appear draconian at the time it was drafted to address specific issues of society; it is the bounden duty of those in charge of the government to implement the law until such a time when the issues that gave rise to it have been addressed or are no longer valid.