VIRAL VIDEO: Nigerian Diplomat Thought He Was Being Kidnapped — FG Explains ‘Assault’ By Indonesian Officials

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has explained the circumstances surrounding a viral video which showed immigration officials manhandling a Nigerian diplomat.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the Nigerian Government said it had listened to the Indonesian Government’s side of the story as well as its ambassador’s narrative.

Onyeama said on Tuesday that the incident happened while Indonesia’s immigration office was looking out for illegal immigrants.

According to the minister, upon seeing the Nigerian diplomat, they asked for his travel documents of which the diplomat said he would provide them, but not at that moment.

“He was in the street and they came up to him because the Indonesian immigration officials, we understand, said around this time, that they are going around looking for illegal immigrants.

“And indeed, the Ambassador of Indonesia, when he was here yesterday, confirmed that… So that’s what they were doing, they apparently went to him and asked him they wanted to see his travel documentation to ensure that he had come in to Indonesia legally and he protested but he did not have, unfortunately, all his documentation with him but he indicated that he was a diplomat and that he was in a position to prove that and he was ready to go with them to their office,” he said.

Onyeama added that the unsavory exchange began when the diplomat tried raising alarm in the car after he assumed that the immigration officials were taking him to a contrary location.

“So, that was what happened…so he now got into the car with them and was going with them to their office…now, at that point, as we understand it, he was left alone, he was not in any way shackled or anything like that.

“But at a certain point, he felt that they had passed where he understood their office was and they should have been going…so they proceeded beyond that…so he panicked and thought this might be a case of kidnap. So, he started to shout and he had some instrument he was able to get and he wanted to attract the attention of passers-by and was hitting it on the window of the car and at that point, they now started to restrain him and I think that was what came out in the video that was circulating.

“This is what was stated by the Indonesian side and also confirmed by the Nigerian Ambassador in his comprehensive report,” he said.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that the ministry had recalled its Ambassador in Indonesia so as to review Nigeria’s relations with the country amid the development.

The ministry earlier noted that its Indonesian counterpart had apologised over the incident, adding that the incident violated international law.