The shockingly rough handling by Indonesian immigration officials of a serving Nigerian diplomat in Jakarta has led to a diplomatic brawl between Nigeria and Indonesia. Soon after the video of the diplomat, Mr. Ibrahim, who was being manhandled by Indonesian officers in a moving vehicle went viral on social media, Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry contacted our Ambassador in Indonesia. The envoy confirmed that the brutalized man was indeed a Nigerian diplomat in Indonesia; the attack took place during a round-up by immigration officials in their search for illegal migrants.
The assault prompted Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama to summon the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Usra Hendra Harahap. Harahap at first refused to acknowledge that the diplomat was assaulted by his country’s immigration officials. He said Ibrahim refused to identify himself properly to the immigration officials and became aggressive in the course of his interrogation. Harahap also said the diplomat kept on resisting and shouting to the point that it required the immigration officials to hold and calm him down. Onyeama expressed Nigeria’s displeasure at the incident. Federal Government said it would “review” diplomatic relations with Indonesia. Soon afterwards our ambassador in Jakarta was “recalled for consultations,” a serious slap in diplomatic circles.
No matter the finer details of the incident, what is not in doubt is that a Nigerian diplomat was assaulted by Indonesian Immigration officials. Without necessarily giving any significance to the status of the victim of the assault, the act is condemnable in strong terms as it violates the individual’s right to dignity of the human person, whether as a citizen or as a foreigner. International human rights laws provide that no person must be subjected to any form of torture, rough-handling, inhuman or degrading treatment as happened in this case. The brutal action of the Indonesian immigration officials was a clear breach of the Vienna Convention.
Although the report submitted by the Nigerian Ambassador in Indonesia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that there was absolutely no justification for the brazen act of cruelty taken against the diplomat in Jakarta, we urge the federal government of Nigeria to institute a probe panel to fully investigate the matter. If the report, which should be made public, absolves the Nigerian diplomat of any blame, Federal Government should demand for an unreserved public apology from the Government of Indonesia; not from the country’s Ambassador in Nigeria. Any immigration officials found culpable should be prosecuted and sanctioned accordingly.
