President Bola Tinubu’s government has quietly won a win: Nigerians serving jail terms in Ethiopia have been transferred home — and a viral video shows them cheering the minister who helped make it happen.
The footage, shared by Dada Olusegun, the president’s special assistant on social media, shows inmates at AbaSamuel Prisons in Addis Ababa shaking hands with and thanking Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Olusegun explained the return followed a bilateral Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Ethiopia and wrote: “Nigerian inmates at AbaSamuel Prisons in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have expressed profound joy and appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, following the successful conclusion of the bilateral Prisoner Transfer Agreement between Nigeria and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.”
Naturally, Nigerians had opinions. Badman Jr worried about the prisoners’ origin: “Honestly, I’m an Igbo man, but I can say we’re the most useless and foolish tribe in the world; our people are full of all the prisons in other countries. I’m so ashamed to come from this nonsense tribe.”
Jagabanolu was scolding: “What a big disgrace… criminals went abroad to commit a crime but want to be treated like they did not commit a crime. These criminals should have served their jail time in Ethiopia and then been deported back to Nigeria at the end of their sentence… These Nigerians should be ashamed of themselves… disgracing Nigeria abroad!”
Ben Samuel took aim at the government: “Only they know what awaits them under Tinubu in Nigeria. Those who aren’t already in prison are living like prisoners, terrified of terrorists, plagued by ransom demands, and watching food prices triple within three years. Nigerians at home are no better off; many have been forced into the forests. As for Nigerian prisoners, they might as well be living in a graveyard without any basic human rights whatsoever.”
And Jay asked whether this should be a priority: “And we have to waste resources/diplomacy because of this? We are battling with insecurity at home, and we are also planning to bring back criminal elements (without remorse) to the country? We are clearly sending a wrong message, and we will be here when this does a 360 on us all.”
