Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has described the execution of a Nigerian woman by Saudi Arabian authorities over drug-related issues as a worrisome development.
In a statement by her Media aide, AbdulRahman Balogun, on Tuesday in Abuja, she said the news of the tragedy was awful.
She said “This particular execution is very worrisome, especially when over eight Nigerians have been killed in the past few years over the same issue in Saudi Arabia. Our major concern, however, is whether the trial was fair to the convicts as it was not open and some of them were said to be implicated without a defence counsel.”
“We are not saying our citizens in Saudi Arabia should be committing crimes, but we want Saudi Arabia to temper justice with mercy especially on offences that carry capital punishment.
“We are appealing again to our citizens to avoid crime and criminality in Saudi Arabia and other countries and be good ambassadors to Nigeria anywhere they go,’’ she said.
Dabiri-Erewa revealed that not less than 20 Nigerians are facing death sentences in Saudi Arabia while many were in prisons serving various jail terms.
