More details on the Nigerian diplomat who was humiliated and brutalised by Indonesian immigration officials are beginning to emerge following a viral video.
It is unclear what led to the incident but the official, who was simply identified as Ibrahim, was harassed in front of the Nigerian diplomatic mission in the Asian country, on Saturday. In a video of the incident currently circulating on social media, three men were seen wrestling a black man inside a car.
They pinned his neck to the car seat and he kept begging for help.
The men kept pressuring him as he screamed “My neck”, “I can’t breathe!”
The officer, Ibrahim, had been to a supermarket to shop on Saturday August 7, 2021, when the Indonesian policemen descended on him.
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He was also heard screaming that he could not breathe but the police officers ignored his plea and continued to torture him.
Reacting to the ugly development, Geoffrey Onyema, Minister of Foreign Affairs, summoned the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Usra Hendra Harahap.
In a statement, Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry said the Indonesia envoy confirmed that the incident happened in his country and he tendered an apology.
Before the envoy was summoned, Nigerian government had also sent an official protest to the government of Indonesia.
According to the statement, the government of Indonesia has apologized to Nigeria over the manhandling and arrest of Nigerian Embassy staff by immigration officers in Jakarta.
The Ambassador explained that he understood what happened and apologized unreservedly on behalf of the Government of Indonesia.”
“The Ambassador has confirmed that the immigration officials involved had since come to the Nigerian Embassy to apologize to the Ambassador and the diplomat concerned.”
The ministry, while describing the incident as “unacceptable”, added that it is against international law and the Vienna Conventions governing Diplomatic and Consular Relations between States.