RIGHTS: Probing The Death Of A Nigerian Immigrant In Belgium

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Oct 14 1998 (IPS) - Nigeria’s military government has bowed to the growing pressure at home to probe the death of a Nigerian asylum seeker who was murdered in Belgium last month.

Foreign affairs minister, Ignatius Olisemeka, told journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, after returning from London where he attended the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting on Nigeria, that the government would conduct “investigations” into Semira Adamu’s death so as to get to the bottom of the tragedy.

He said Nigeria’s ambassador to Belgium has been instructed to help in the investigations.

Olisemeka described Semira’s death as “tragic and painful”, saying the government would take a series of measures to avoid similar incidents from happening in the future.

His remarks came just a few days after the ‘Nigerian Human Rights NGO Coalition’ accused the government of failure to provide employment for thousands of Nigerian graduates seeking asylum abroad in a bid to better their lives.

Semira’s story began six months ago when she fled to Belgium and applied for asylum following attempts to “force” her to marry a 65-year-old polygamous man in northern Nigeria.

Her application for refugee status was refused but was arrested at the airport and taken to a refugee camp, 15 kilometres from Brussels.

On deportation attempt, Semira was alleggedly injected with a drug called ‘Kamuermidded’ to put her to sleep while being driven by six police escorts to the airport. Semira was later put on board Sabena Airlines but started screaming.

In an attempt to “calm” her, the Belgium police held a cushion against her face and she fell into coma before she died in a Brussels hospital of brain haemorrhage on Sep 22.

In Nigeria, Semira’s uncle has denied alleggations linking his niece with a polygamy.

Jacob Madaki told the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the northern Nigerian town of Kaduna on Tuesday that Semira did not leave home because she was being pressured to marry a 65-year- old man. He said the deceased might have concocted the story to impress Belgium immigration officials.

Madaki, who is a lawyer, said Semira hail from the south of Kaduna “where forced marriage in this age is not possible”. He said the deceased’s family “have accepted the death as an act of God”.

According to Madaki, Semira’s final destination was Italy. And that she was in Belgium to meet her fiance’s sister.

Last week a coalition of Nigerian human rights groups demonstrated in front of the Belgian embassy in Lagos to protest the murder.

The demonstration took place on Friday, one day after Semira’s body had arrived at the Mortala International Airport in Lagos.

Madaki said Semira’s family will, through the Nigerian government, “seek redress as soon as the dust raised by her death had settled”.

The Belgium government has, through its embassy in Lagos, given Semira’s family 100,000 naira (about 1,200 US Dollars) for her burial, an amount the family said is inadequate for the burial rites which they estimate will cost 400,000 naira (about 5,000 US Dollars).