Nigerians protest Lybia’s plan to execute 220 Nigerians
By Uduma Kalu
NIGERIAN VANGUARD NEWSPAPER: Saturday, August 8, 2009

Nigerians all over the world have reacted to alleged plans by the Libya plans to execute 220 Nigerians for immigration violations. To save the Nigerian from death, Nigerians in the diaspora have therefore asked the country embassy in Lybia as well as the federal government to intervene saying that already, 30 have been executed by the Libyan authorities.

They have also sent out email accounts of Nigerian embassy officials in Lybia for people to force the embassy to intervene. Already, Sudanese embassy officials are aid to have protested to Lybia against the execution of their citizens. Nigerian government is yet to act.

Reports came yesterday that by today, over 220 illegal immigrants in Libya mostly Nigerians may be executed. It said that out of this number, 30 were allegedly executed in the early hours of Thursday in the prison yard in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

Among the Nigerian illegal immigrants awaiting execution in Libya is a 37-year-old Benedict Ukoma Jude from Imo State who was arrested along with other Nigerians for entering the country without valid documents.

The arrested Nigerians are said to be kept separately from other nationals from Ghana, Niger, Cameroun ,Algeria and Mali just as the Nigerians are said to being dehumanized before their alleged execution. An official of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja however was said to have reported that the Nigerian government was not aware of such development.

But the Benedict Ukoma Jude who spoke from his prison cell in Libya Thusrday said most Nigerian illegal immigrants were arrested in the desert while trying to cross to Europe. Benedict, denied being involved in any criminal activity in Libya, adding that the illegal aliens were arraigned before a court after the arrest, and that the charges against them were read to them in the language they could not understand while the judicial officers feigned not to understand English.

He alleged that the Libyan authorities have been killing illegalaliens in batches since last week, stressing that the remaining prisoners would be executed tomorrow as over 10 Nigerians were amongthose executed Thursday.