Three Nigerians, Others Executed For Drug Trafficking In Indonesia

Three Nigerians and five other members of the Bali Nine prisoners being held in Indonesia for drug offences have been executed on Nusakambangan Prison Island near Cilacap in Central Java by the Indonesian government.

Indonesian media say the execution, by firing squad, took place at 00:30 local time, which translates to 6:30pm Nigerian time yesterday.

The Nigerians involved were Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze, while the five others killed were Indonesian Zainal Abidin, Australian Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and Ghanaian Martin Anderson.

However, Mary Jane Veloso, the only woman among the nine, was spared at the last hour after a woman reported to have tricked her into the crime turned herself in to the police in the Philippines.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, but Jakarta has justified this due to the country’s own drugs problem – 33 Indonesians die everyday as a result of drugs, according to Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (INNA).

“We’ve carried out the executions,” the Jakarta Post quoted an official of the Attorney-General’s Office (AGO) as saying.

“The executions were carried out at 12:30am,” Suhendro Putro, funeral director with the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) in Cilacap, said in a short message service.
Tony Spontana, spokesman of the AGO, said the government had agreed to the final requests fielded by two Australian death-row convicts for their bodies to be flown to Australia for burial.

A Cilacap Police officer said that after the executions, prayers were said for each person according to their respective religions.
“The executions went well, without any disruptions,” - he said.

On January 18 when Indonesia carried out its last execution of drug criminals, two Nigerians – Solomon Chibuike Okafor (Alias Namaona Denils) and Daniels Enemuo (Alias Diarrassoube Mamadou) – were among the six killed.

While the Bali Nine have garnered much international attention, their punishment is just part of a larger government effort to combat illegal drug trafficking.

Indonesian President Widodo has insisted that Indonesia will not be swayed by appeals for clemency because the country is dealing with a “drugs crisis.”