President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a high-level delegation to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to secure the immediate repatriation of nearly 300 Nigerian nationals serving prison sentences in the country.
Sources within the Presidency and the foreign service familiar with the directive said the prisoners are held in deteriorating conditions at Kaliti, a maximum-security prison in Addis Ababa.
Tinubu mandated the delegation, which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ethiopian government that would allow the prisoners to be transferred to Nigeria to complete the remainder of their sentences in Nigerian correctional facilities.
According to one source, the directive came directly from the President, with the delegation departing for Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
“We are leaving because we have prisoners. The President has directed us to get these prisoners back.
“He directed that we go there right away with the Attorney-General, get an MOU quickly signed, so that these prisoners can be transported back to Nigeria, so that they can serve out the rest of their sentences here,” the official revealed.
A second source told The PUNCH that the urgency was driven by the deteriorating physical condition of the inmates.
