A civil society
group, known as Patriotic Citizen Initiatives, PCI, has called on President
Mohammadu Buhari to come to the aid of Nigerians incarcerated in China Prisons.
Speaking at a
stakeholder's forum in Lagos over the weekend, which had in attendance
representatives of family members of Nigerians in China prison and recent
prison returnees from China, the group highlighted the awful conditions and
experiences of Nigerians languishing in prisons in China.
According to the
President of the group, Comrade Osita Osemene, there are about 8000 Nigerians
allegedly trapped in China prison who committed immigration offenses ranging
from invalid traveling documentation, over-staying, and smuggling among
others.
He also added
that despite the fact that some of the offences are drugs-related, most of the
allegations are neither properly investigated nor proven, adding that a lot of
innocent Nigerian citizens have been unfairly roped into crimes they never
committed.
"Averages of
40 Nigerians are being executed every year.
Nigerians are
used for slave labour in prison. Many inmates have
complained about the mysterious death of Nigerians in various prisons in China.
"There are
also the grave allegations of organs harvesting from Nigerians by Chinese
officials used for organ trading.
“We are also
calling on the government to look into allegations of lack of access to
medical facilities, the gross inhuman treatment and lack of fair hearing by
Chinese government.," he said.
Osemene also
added that Nigerians are given life and death sentence in China without proper
and fair hearing.
"We hereby urge
President Buhari to urgently intervene on this matter by setting up
presidential inter-agency assessment delegation to China to properly
investigate and ascertain the veracity of the experiences of Nigerians in China
prisons and their alleged offences," he said, adding that the office of
the SSA to the president on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora should convene
special stakeholders/interagency summit on the plights of Nigerians in China
prisons which also should cover other European and Asian countries like
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia.
"The
National Assembly should as a matter of public importance and urgency conduct
public hearings on this subject matter," Osemene added.
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