Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Angel Losada Fernedez has been summoned by the House of Representatives to explain the circumstances leading to the death of Osamuyi Akpitanhi, a Nigerian deportee and the refusal of the Spanish authorities to release the corpse 32 days after he was murdered.
…As family searches for corpse
Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Angel Losada Fernedez has been summoned by the House of Representatives to explain the circumstances leading to the death of Osamuyi Akpitanhi, a Nigerian deportee and the refusal of the Spanish authorities to release the corpse 32 days after he was murdered.
The late Osamuyi was found dead aboard the Iberia Airline after he was allegedly drugged, gagged, bounded and put in a sack by Spanish agents, who forced the aircraft to drop his remains in a remote village in an attempt to cover up.
Just yesterday, the ailing father of the late Osamuyi, Pa Jacob Akpitanhi fought tears as he begged the Ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives probing the brutal killing of his son to impress on the Spanish authorities to release the corpse for decent burial.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. H.S. Dickson said that summoning the Spanish ambassador would help the House to take appropriate steps to address the killing that has been generating reactions across the globe.
Besides the ambassador, the committee would take briefs from the Nigerian Immigration Services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the management of Iberia Airline, Nigerian Human Rights Commission and the three eyewitnesses to the brutalization of the deceased before his death.
Briefing the committee on the sad loss of his son, Pa Jacob said that the news of the death of Osamuyi was broken to the family through an unnamed caller from Madrid.
One of the deceased's relations, Julius Onajhise had to come to his aide to narrate the story of the death of Osamuyi and the request of the family for the release of his remains so that he could be accorded a befitting burial as a breadwinner of the family.
As at the time the family appeared before the committee, they claimed that they were yet to receive any correspondence from either the Spanish government or that of Nigeria office in Madrid on the death of their son.
'As we are talking now, we are yet to get any notification from Iberia Airline, the Spanish government and even the Nigeria office in Spain . More worrisome is the whereabouts of the corpse of Osamuyi, all we have been hearing is from internet and newspaper reports, we are at a loss, please help us," the family pleaded.