FG: We’ll investigate death of Nigerian brutalised by Ethiopian police

The federal government says it will look into the circumstances that led to the death of Chizoba Favour Eze, a Nigerian citizen, in Ethiopia.

Gabriel Odu, spokesperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), confirmed the development to TheCable on Wednesday.

There have been reports that Eze died on March 12 after sustaining multiple injuries from brutality by the police personnel attached to the Kaliti prison, a maximum security facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.

It is unclear why she was reportedly beaten to death.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, NiDCOM chair, said the commission was in contact with the Nigerian mission in Ethiopia and that Eze’s death would be thoroughly investigated.

She commiserated with Eze’s family and assured them that the case would be looked into quickly.

Dabiri-Erewa expressed concern over the reported conditions of some Nigerians serving various jail terms in Ethiopia, noting that most of the cases were drug-related.

She said the Nigerian mission in the country had proposed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) from the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) on the transfer of sentenced persons to Nigeria but was yet to get a response from Ethiopia.

Dabiri-Erewa said although the Ethiopian government had granted amnesty to Nigerian prisoners in 2019, a number of them still found their way back to the country and allegedly committed the same drug-related crimes and were re-arrested.