Omoyele Sowore and SaharaReporters Should Not Be Allowed To Damage Our Relations With Ethiopia- Reno Omokri

On the issue of the recent death of a Nigerian prisoner, Dennis Smith Okoro, in an Ethiopian prison, my condolences go out to his family, and I am aware that the Nigerian government has initiated action to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr Okoro’s death.

I would therefore urge Omoyele Sowore and his SaharaReporters to tread with caution in their wild claims against a brother African nation to avoid straining the fraternal relations that exist between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

I am not sure that it is prudent for SaharaReporters to rely solely on the accounts of Mr Okoro’s fellow prisoners and write such a story filled with damaging allegations against Ethiopian government officials without first seeking to hear from that country’s authorities as to their version of the events leading to Mr Okoro’s death.

Hearsay evidence is not the most reliable way to reach the truth. It is even worse when such information comes from people who have been convicted of various forms of dishonesty. Not that they cannot be sourced. But at least, their version of events ought to be put before the Ethiopian authorities to hear their side.

I am not convinced that what SaharaReporters and Omoyele Sowore have done is journalism. I think not. It is more appropriately sensationalism.

Mr Okoro is not the first and only Nigerian prisoner to have died in an Ethiopian prison. Before him, there were Basil Lawrence Ilobi, Uchenna Nwanneneme, Chizoba Eze, and possibly two others.

None of their deaths has gone uninvestigated by the Nigerian government.

Ethiopia is a country I have visited over fifty times. Yes. Over fifty times!

It is a nation with a very high elevation, which is why it is referred to as the Roof of Africa. Ethiopia has the highest average elevation of any nation in Africa, as a large portion of the country lies above 1,500 metres.

Unfortunately, countries with such high elevation have lower oxygen levels, and people from countries with low elevation, such as Nigeria, where our elevation is mostly below 100 metres, will suffer from several respiratory and cardiovascular issues, which can cause strokes, heart attacks, and rapid dehydration.

This becomes worse when you are in a prison facility with limited opportunities for movement and light exercise.

And while investigations must be carried out, it is no surprise that strokes, heart attacks, and hypertension have been blamed for the deaths of some of our citizens in Ethiopian gaols.

And because our government is aware of this, efforts are being made to see if these prisoners can be repatriated to Nigeria, where the climate is more suited to their bodies. Less than a year ago, the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, met with His Excellency Legesse Geremew Haile, Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to Nigeria, regarding the Memorandum of Understanding on the repatriation of sentenced Nigerian persons to Nigeria.
The MoU is awaiting ratification by the parliament of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has only recently signified that it could lift the restrictions on the Nigerian passport that hitherto denied us visas on arrival, which are accessible to other African nations. One-sided hit pieces, like the SaharaReporters story, can prompt the Ethiopian government to reconsider its position on our passports.

Nigerian prisoners in Ethiopia and other countries deserve every consular support that they can get, and I am very well aware that the Tinubu administration is providing such support, which was reinvigorated when Vice President Shettima visited Ethiopia two weeks ago.

Having said that, we also have to address what might be responsible for why Nigeria has such a high number of citizens as prisoners in Ethiopia.