There was mild drama as a group of good governance protesters led by veteran musician, Charles Oputa also known as Charly Boy, stormed the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Abuja to demand pro-active and reactive steps from the federal government over the plight of Nigerians sold as slaves in Libya.
The group carried out the protest strapped in chains, handcuffs and sealed mouth to drive home their points.
This comes as the Nigerian Charge D’Affaire to Libya, Ambassador Iliya Danladi Fachano, addressed the media on reports of auctioning off Nigerian migrants and kidnapping them for ransom in the country.
Ambassador Fachano, said: “By rule as civil servants, we do not speak on what we do but let me tell you what the Nigerian embassy has been doing in Tripoli.
“The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) usually informs us of the detention camps where Nigerians are kept by the Libyan authorities who refer to them as illegal migrants.
“Upon the receipts of the IOM intelligence reports, we visit the detention camps to identify our people. After we properly identify them, we issue them emergency travel certificates and schedule a date for their flight home. The IOM finance the flights.
“We also forward the names of the returnees to Nigeria where officials of our consular department and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will expect to receive them for rehabilitation and resettlement upon their return to the country.
“So far, we have registered over 3,000 Nigerians in Libya and repatriated about 2,000 so far. On Tuesday 5th December, 2017, we are expecting a batch of 250 returnees by 7pm in Lagos.
“On the global level, migration is not an issue. It is only an issue when it is illegal. Illegal migration is like terrorism. Our duty is to protect both Nigerians that run afoul of the law and those that are legal migrants because we exist in Libya to serve the interest of all Nigerians.”
“For those sold as slaves, we request for their freedom and take up cases against Nigerians in Libya who are found culpable in cases of alleged slave auction in Tripoli and other parts of Libya,” he added.
Meanwhile, the protesters urged the federal government to take urgent steps to ensure that the sale of Nigerians as slaves in Libya is brought to an end.
Speaking on behalf of OurMumuDonDo group, Raphael Adebayo, the group’s spokesman said: “Our message to the federal government today is very simple and clear that issuing press statement is not enough to give respite to the Nigerians who are suffering in Libya.
“Concocting and fabricating phone numbers is not enough to give respite to the Nigerians suffering in Libya.”
“What we are demanding is that decisive and genuine actions are taken to repatriate Nigerians who are in Libya and give them a reason to want to be Nigerians. We hope that they are going to act on these demands of ours,” Adebayo said.
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