The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has said that it has submitted the list of 578 Nigerian youths languishing in the Republic of Benin prison detention to the Public Petition Committee of the National Assembly.
The National President of OYC, Comrade Igboayaka Igboayaka, said the 578 Nigerian youths were illegally arrested and are being detained by the Republic of Benin authorities in D’Akpro Misserete & Cotonou Prison.
Igboayaka in a statement issued on Friday recalled that on April 30, 2023, the OYC revealed that 5000 Nigerian youths are held captive in 13 different prisons in the Republic of Benin.
According to him, during the second summon at the Public Petition Committee hearing on Thursday, the House Chairman, Public Petition Committee, Mike Etaba, adopted the list of the 578 detained Nigerian youths from OYC as a working document that would aid in investigation and intervention by the Nigerian government into the matter.
He said that the respondent of the petition, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs who pleaded for more time on April 30, during the first summon by the committee in order to reach the Benin Republic government could not show up on Thursday sitting.
“The Chairman of the committee therefore summoned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to appear before the committee on the next sitting, for a quick feedback concerning the letter they reported they have written to the Benin Republic to get the actual numbers of Nigerians in the country.”
Igboayaka urged the committee to speed up action to rescue the detained Nigerian youths that are in excruciating agony in the Republic of Benin prisons.
