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IKEM: EMPLOYER TO BE CHARGED WITH MURDER IN THE PHILIPPINES-
DABIRI-EREWA
Abuja, Nov. 14, 2023:
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission
(NIDCOM) has informed the Senate Joint Committees on Diaspora and Inter
Governmental Affairs and Foreign Affairs that the employer of Ikem, a
Nigerian student beaten to death in Philliphines, has been charged with
murder, along with five others.
She also said that a viral video by a man posted on social media
recently alleging that 250 Nigerians are slated for killing in Ethiopia
was totally false and untrue.
This was the highlight of the investigative hearing of the Joint Senate
Committees presided over in Abuja on Monday by Sen. Victor Umeh, saying
on the case of Ikem, who was brutally murdered, the Philliphines
authorities have declared the employer, who has since been on the run,
wanted.
Dabiri-Erewa said
that Nigeria Embassy had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs in
the Philippines and also reported the case to the Inspector General of
the Philippines National Police.
The Embassy, she added, had maintains regular contact with the line
police station at the location; with a strong directive to go for the
investigation.
Dabiri-Erewa said the investigating police team on the case are done
with evidence building and presented the case to the Mandaue city
prosecuting Department for action; who has evaluated it and deemed it
fit for murder case filing.
“They have filed the case and issued a warrant of arrest to the boy’s
employee and five other suspects; they are charged for murder, human
trafficking and operation of illegal business in the Philippines”, she
said.
The NiDCOM boss who gave the committee, a copy of the pictures of the
suspects, said the pictures have been forwarded to all exits in the
Philippines to prevent them from leaving the country.
She stressed that the case will be held as soon as the major suspect,
still at large, is arrested.
On Nigerians in Ethiopian prisons, she said the official information
received is that 160 Nigerians were serving various jail terms under
very poor conditions and that over 90 per cent of them were for drug
related offences.
She told the Committees that in order to decongest the prisons, amnesty
was granted to them but majority of them went back and still committed
the same crime.
She said that a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into awaiting
Ministry of Justice in Nigeria to sign its own side of the deal to
enable prisoners swap or to continue their jail term in their respective
country.
In addition, she explained that most of those caught are those
transiting from Addis Ababa to other countries of the world
Other stakeholders who appeared before the Committees were Hon. Amb.
Enya Francis , Director, Consular representing the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the sister of the deceased, Blessing Essien, President National
Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) Mr John Ogar and Country
Representative Commonwealth Students Association (CSA), Mr Nwanba
Chidubem.
Speaking in the same vein, the Director Consular in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Amb. Enya Francis said they are in close contact with
Embassy and on top of the matter.
Francis said the corpse is yet to be buried as it will cost between
N31million to N35 million to repatriate and bury the corpse in Nigeria
as against N10 million to N15 million to cremate it in the Philippines.
He said the cost of keeping the corpse at the funeral home is accruing
N30,000 on daily basis, hence the need to expedite action on the
investigation and take appropriate action.
Speaking on behalf of the family of the deceased, Blessings Essien,
Ikem elder sister, said he was the only son of the family and in-line
with Igbo tradition, it would be an honour to bring the body back to
Nigeria for burial.
She therefore appealed to the Federal Government through the Senate
Committees to assist the family in repatriating the body back to Nigeria
for a befitting burial.
The President of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) in the
Diaspora, Mr John Ogar said the group was troubled by the dastardly and
wicked act in which late Ikem was killed and seeking for justice.
He and Mr Nwanba Chiduben, Country Representative of Commonwealth
Students Association (CSA) said apart from protest they have done to
seek justice for the death of Ikem, they have written to Gov. Charles
Soludo of Anambra state to assist the family in bringing back the corpse
home for burial while appealing to some foreign airlines plying the
route to see it as Corporate Social Responsibility in flying the corpse
home.
Senator Umeh thanked all the stakeholders for all their efforts, saying
the investigative hearing was sequel to a motion he moved on the floor
of the Senate and the joint committees were mandated to investigate the
matter.
He assured that the Committees will ensure that all those involved will
be prosecuted and face the music, saying the matter would never be swept
under the carpet.
Ikem, a Nigerian student based in Philippines, was on October 22, 2023
tortured by a group of Chinese co-workers over a minor disagreement with
his supervisor.
” they tied his hands up, covered and tied his mouth and beat him until
he gave up the ghost”, an eye witness said in a statement.
