Over 300 Nigerians arrested illegally dumped in Italian prisons

A former Commissioner for Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs in Edo State, Osaze Osemwingie-Ero, has raised alarm that over 300 Nigerian youths are ‘illegally’ dumped in Italian prisons on prompt up charges of mafia- offences.

Osemwingie-Ero at a meeting with officials of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), decried that he was a victim of wrongful detention in Italy where he became acquainted with the plight of the innocent young Nigerians in detention cells.

The former commissioner narrated that the Nigerians are detained in Italian maximum prisons because they do not have the resources to access independent lawyers. Osemwingie-Ero decried that the Italian prosecutors are manipulating the justice system against Nigerians. He stated that his experience made it clear to him that “he was a victim of racial discrimination, and manipulation of the Italian Justice System by a very corrupt prosecutor – Dr Stephano Casano”.

Osemwingie-Ero narrated that when he interviewed other Nigerians incarcerated for charges similar to those levelled against him, it was discovered that a certain ‘Green Bible’ and forged papers that were brought up as evidence against him, was the same evidence presented against others in custody.

Osemwingie-Ero had in 2019, connected flight from Amsterdam to Germany, he landed a victim of 18 months incarceration in an Italian prison for a crime he knew nothing about.

The former commissioner was to meet with Yusuf Tuggar, the then Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, on the Benin Artifacts Campaign.

At the airport, Osemwingie-Ero was arrested by security operatives and immediately accused of membership of the ‘Nigerian Mafia’, according to the Italian prosecutors.

It was indicated that Article 416 Bis of the Italian Criminal Code outlines what a Mafia-type organization is and the punishment for perpetrators of these kinds of crimes.
The former commissioner disclosed that many Nigerians are being detained in Italy because of article 416, which has no strong evidence of any crime committed.

Osemwingie-Ero revealed that to strengthen their accusations, the Italians produced in court evidence known as the Green Bible, which has been used to convict many Nigerians, especially, those who had no qualitative legal representation.

According to the former Edo Commissioner, “I decided to do the long trial, where the prosecutor was compelled to bring the evidence that he had against me or against the Nigerian association. Only for him to produce a forge manual that he called the Green Bible, which they have used to convict a lot of Nigerians over 200 Nigerians in Italy.”

Osemwingie-Ero said his lawyers thoroughly scrutinized the Green Bible and discovered several discrepancies.

He highlighted: “For example, page 14 of that so-called Green Bible, paragraph 3 stated that ‘we the criminal organization’ involved in A-Z were there; and I told the judge that I have never seen an organization that will write in their manual that they are a criminal organization.

“On page 31, 32 and 33 of that so called Green Bible, we have a 2017 event of the communique of the Green Circuit Association in Asaba in that book while on page 51 of that so called Green Bible, it said this book was written in 1978 by University of Benin students and I said, how can we have a communique of 2017 event inside a book that was written in 1978.”

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has promised to intervene. The Head of NIDCOM, Dabiri-Erewa, decrying the plight of Nigerians who the commissioner met in the Italian prison, said that the first step would be to take up the case with the Attorney General’s office, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Indeed, if there are so many Nigerians in Italian prisons languishing for years, for an offence (they told you and you interacted with them) that they did not commit, we can’t just watch and see that happen,” Dabiri-Erewa declared.

She assured that the Commission will be thorough about the case, saying that every legal means will be explored.