Counsel to the six professors of Nigerian universities and four other professionals who were allegedly abducted from the Nera Hotel in Abuja on 5 January 2018 and subsequently tried and jailed in Cameroon has called on the Nigerian government to take immediate action to help secure their release.
Speaking before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, Barrister Joseph Awa Fru said, “The major issue about this matter is that professionals who came to Nigeria to seek asylum were allegedly abducted back to Cameroon.
In the course of the abduction, they were also tried in Cameroon and then sentenced there.”
He further explained that “The petitioners are not Cameroonians. These petitioners are Nigerians by law, by fact, and by residence. By international law, they are Nigerian citizens who have legal standing to seek redress before this committee for what transpired.
Since they are productive Nigerian citizens and since international and national law grants them the right of citizenship—either by registration or by operation of law—they are indeed citizens.”
Fru emphasised that whatever transpired during their abduction on 5 January 2018 at Nera Hotel, located in Abuja, falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the committee. He clarified that the petition is not asking the committee to interfere in the internal matters of Cameroon but to work within its mandate.
“We are saying that the DIA, the DSS, and all elements of the executive branch that were responsible for the refoulement of these petitioners are answerable before this committee.
We request the House, in its advisory role, to compile a report that enumerates all the issues raised in this case. This report should be sent to the plenary, if necessary, for further adjudication. The plenary, as the final arm of government, should adjudicate on this matter because while the judiciary has spoken, the legislative arm, which executes foreign policy, has not spoken.”
In response, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, Michael Irom, said, “So, you are asking the committee to adopt the report we just received as part of the evidence before us and then finalise a report for submission to the Committee of the Whole. However, we cannot proceed with that, as the report presents only one side of the story.”
He stated further, “This matter is deep. It is heavy. It is not a simple, low-hanging fruit matter. We need to get to the root of it and find a lasting solution.”
He advised that this matter should also involve ECOWAS, the Human Rights Commission, and other relevant bodies.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and do the needful.
The committee cannot resolve this matter today or make a resolution. It is not possible. We need to take all necessary steps to ensure that this matter is handled fairly—not as a one-sided issue.”
Irom noted that a different approach would be taken. “The letters going out from tomorrow will request each entity or party involved to submit their responses in writing. They do not need to appear before us. Instead, we will use their written submissions to examine the matter critically.”The case was adjourned to 17 April 2025.
Recall that the professors and other professionals, who were refugees and asylum seekers in Nigeria, were arrested at Nera Hotel in Abuja on 5 January 2018 by security agents and handed over to Cameroon, tried by a military tribunal, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Kondengui Maximum Security Detention facility.
