BEVERLY HILLS, July 10, (THEWILL) – Parents of Nigerian students in Republic of Benin have claimed that over 50 Nigerian students are being wrongly detained in police stations in Cotonou, the commercial capital.
They alleged that their children were unlawfully arrested by Béninoise police and kept in inhuman conditions without being told their offences or charged to court.
According to them, 50 others have been arrested, tried and jailed without their families’ knowledge.
In a petition made available to journalists, the distraught parents sought President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Diaspora affairs, Hon. Abike Dabiri– Erewa.
They claimed that the Béninoise police had been picking up any Nigerian student with a white person’s picture, a Google code, or any internet-related item on his phone and were being held at a police station in Gendarmerie Ablangadan, Cotonou.
Some of the names given includes: Matthew Longgapp, Bayo Ridwan Oyenuga, Tari Ibori, Samuel Akinwande, Dunchi Daniel Dennis, Steven Porobunu, Chukwudi Ezeanyom Valentine, Peter Ochani, David Nicholas Esu, Michael Porobunu, Emmanuel Chukwuneke, Tomi Ogunleye and Jacob Oluwatobi
The parents added that the intervention of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Benin had failed to yeild results hence the call for help from the Presidency.
