President Muhammadu Buhari expresses concerns over the rising cases of
Nigerians being sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirate (UAE)
for various forms of crime in the country. The Nigerian president felt
more perturbed about the effect of such records on the image of
Nigerians all over the world, stating that the criminal attitude of
the culprits does not reflect the gestalt behavior of Nigerians.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and
Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, on behalf of the president, lamented
that the death sentence passed on eight Nigerians in the United Arab
Emirate (UAE) was unfortunate.
Expressing concern over the development, Dabiri noted that the crime
wave was not an actual description of the personalities of the
Nigerian people.
”It is an unfortunate incident but it is not an incident that defines
who we are as a people.
”If a few Nigerians have committed a crime for which they are being
punished, thousands of Nigerians are doing great in that same country
and are being appreciated and celebrated.
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”Mr. President, who meets Nigerians every time he goes on official
trips outside the country, always appeals to Nigerians to be good
ambassadors wherever they are.
”I must commend millions of our brothers and sisters excelling all
over the world.
“Bad news travels fast and I appeal to the media to help spread the
good news about Nigerians and not concentrate only on the once in a
while negative stories,” Abike Dabiri was cited to have declared.
Eight Nigerians were reported to be sentenced to death on Wednesday in
Sharjah, UAE, for a string of robberies at money exchanges and cashi
machines (ATMs) across the emirate in December 2016.
All the convicted Nigerians were not identified by both the Gulf News
and Khaleej Times, the UAE local newspapers that reported the trial.
It was indicated that 20 suspects were initially held for attacking
security guards in four violent attacks at ATMs and money exchanges
across Sharjah in late 2016. Of the suspects, nine were said to be
convicted; eight of the criminals were sentenced to death; and the
ninth convicted criminal was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Some of the accused were said to have confessed to their crimes while
others denied the charges. The verdict was handed down by Judge Majid
Al Muhairi of Sharjah Criminal Court on Wednesday.