Wednesday 28 March 2012

457 Nigerians languish in Brazilian prisons - Abike Dabiri


Rep Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee
on Diaspora, says 457 Nigerians, including a 72-year-old woman, Fausat Abosede are languishing in
various prisons in Brazil. Dabiri-Erewa told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, that the committee had visited Brazil and was touched by the pitiable condition of the inmates. “We were touched by the psychological traumas that the inmates
were going through, despite the cleanliness and orderliness of the prison environment,” she said. She said the visit was prompted by a hint it got from a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Youth without Borders, led by two Nigerians, Taiwo and Kehinde Afolabi.

The lawmaker said out of the figure, 14 of the inmates were female, who were been kept at Sao Paulo Women Plenipotentiary Prisons. She said one of the women ha completed her term and was undergoing rehabilitation training. Dabiri-Erewa said the delegation was, however, disturbed by the
predicament of 72-year old Abosede , who told the delegation that she went
to Brazil for medical treatment, through a Nigerian. She added that the woman decided to
return to Nigeria when she realised that the treatment she was promised was not forth coming. Abosede was, however, arrested at the airport in September 2011, with drugs in a bag she claimed was given to her by an acquaintance, named
Patricia, to deliver in Nigeria. The lawmaker faulted the Brazilian authorities for keeping the old woman
in prison, contrary to the laws of the country,which stipulates that a suspect
of her age be kept in house arrest pending sentence. Dabiri-Erewa said the committee had formally presented Abosede’s case
and those of other inmates to the Director, Department of Immigrations of Ministry of Justice of Brazil, Dr.
Izaura Miranda, who had expressed surprise on the woman’s case.
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