Some of these Nigerians have been alleged to have committed some visa or immigrations infractions in China , and as a result, these Nigerians are said to have been detained for extended periods of time, without trials, and without contact from the outside world, as they are denied visits and legal defense. The stranded Nigerians assert that the Nigerian Embassy and diplomat have not intervened on these detained Nigerians' behalf and that surely is, not a good thing!

It is in actuality irrelevant, whether such Nigerian is a model citizen or a person who has broken some law, a Nigerian is entitled to due process, and the benefits of the rule of law, regardless of whether such Nigerian is in Nigeria, America, Europe or China in Asia; below is an e-mail forwarded to me by Mallam Habu Fika Dauda, the Publisher/Webmaster of amanonline as he sought to bring the plight of these Nigerians in China to light, in effort to push the hands of those, whose responsibility it must be, to resolve the seeming endless tales of woes, that has befallen these Nigerians, as contained in their self-explanatory e-mail that was forwarded to me by Mallam Habu.

Here now are the contents of the Save Our Souls e-mail as forwarded, UNEDITED:

Sir, I hereby submit to you the letter that we sent to the NIGERIA EMBASSY in China.This is as a result of constant embarrasements we have encountered as a result of visa prohibition. The EMBASSY has so far acted as a "tootless bulldog" on this issue.It seems that they don"t want to do anything about it. They watch and see their citizens harrassed and assaulted.

It is getting too much!!!

This is the letter. Please take time and read the letter. The lives of Nigerians in China is generally threathened by visa prohibition by the Chinese government nigerians in jilin province of china 22 september 2005 . the ambassador,

nigeria embassy, beijing , china sir,

please come to our rescue

i wish you a good day. i humbly want to inform you about the detention of 3 nigerians in this province capital called changchun ,in the north eastern part of china. they are detained because of minor immigration related cases which is as follows: the first is one mr.nnogu ikechukwu micheal was detained since may 2005.

till date !­..we have tried our best to reach out to him but this have failed.

nobody is allowed to see him.for over 4 months now,we have appealed to the nigeria embassy in beijing to intervene and see to his repatriation back to nigeria ,but nothing has happened.

this man is not a criminal.his only case is that he has an expired visa.

another most recent case is that of mr. nwosu innocent age 40years old.he was arrested on the 15th of september 2005 .

he opened a saloon with a chinese woman a day before this incident.he was arrested because he has no licence to do business and his visa is expired.

his chinese counterpart is still at large and this is very suspicious because the woman assured him that once he can open a joint partnership his visa can be fixed and this will bring chances for other nigerians who are keen to have any kind of joint partnership in the city.

we suspect that the woman set him up so that she can take over the business.

the third nigerian is unknown to us and we suspect that he might have come in from another city.

since last week!­!­.the local chinese newspaper here has been reporting this incident on the front page on daily bases..

we feel very unsafe and ashamed to see our own brothers in jail. these nigerians are neither criminals, drug pushers nor dupes.

they are just hard working nigerians who are victims of visa prohibition of the chinese government on the nigerian passport.

all of us here in the northern part of china working as full time or part time english teachers.

issues at stake

1 ---- we appeal that the embassy should determine the identity of the third nigerian in detention and a possible way of helping them back home.

2-----sir,we humbly beg you to use your power as our ambassador and our leader in china to intervene in these cases and see to the repatriation of these nigerians back to their loved ones in nigerian.

their cases are immigration cases which in chinese law calls for eventual repatriation to country of origin.

it will be very disastrous and shameful to our country!1s intergrity if they are allowed to waste away or die in detention because they have no one to speak for them.

how can we watch and see our brothers die for minor pardonable cases?

visa prohibition on nigerians

sir,with regards to the above,it will be attributed that the problems facing nigerians in china today is because of the visa prohibition on nigerians.

a lot of rumours have circulated on this issue. even,the embassy have not given us a clear reason why our visas are not extended like others.

last year,we were at the nigeria embassy and discussed this with mr usman,the consular.he did not give us a good clarification..

he only told us that the chinese government has denied that there is a visa prohibition on nigerians.

he said that it is not official.

well!­..every nigerian knows that there is a visa restriction on the nigeria passport.

the chinese knows and other foreigners knows too .it is very shameful.. and disgraceful.

there was a rumour that it is because we recognised taiwan ,but one wonders why taiwan !1s main ally,the usa is not given the same treatment.

also....there was another rumour that it is is because of the crimes committed by some nigerians here but it is clear that this is not so because nigerians are not the only ones commiting crimes in china.

most sophiscated crimes here are commited by citizens from the western countries.

there is a rumour which seems to be that the restriction is because nigeria is classified as one of the !0terrorist!1 countries.this is the only"rumour" that sounds real.

the rumour has it that the 6 countries blacklisted by the chinese government are as follows : nigeria,pakistan,iraq,iran,sri lanka and turkey.

one wonders why nigeria is should be among the list of these countries known for terrorist attacks and suicide bombings.

we are not known for these !!!!!

today,many nigerians in china are scared to death of being recognised as being from niriliyaa [ nigeria ].

many prefer to claim other nationalities other than nigeria .

the most common is usa , south africa , jamaica , ghana and bahamas .

when we came here 3 years ago,i was very proud of my nationality,but today i take deep breath before i can introduce myself as a nigerian.

sir,please!­we humbly beg and cry unto you to look into these problems that are facing us in this country.

we are aware that china is presently being awarded contracts that runs into billions of dollars in nigeria ,like the telecomunication,oil and satellite contracts.

there are thousands of chinese living and doing business in nigeria .

they are not facing discrimination.the number of chinese in nigeria surpass the number of nigerians in china by ratio 10 to 1.

if they are gaining much in nigeria why can!1t our government demand them to respect us in their country and extend our visas !!

today,all over china,many nigerians are detained and wasting away because of expired visas and hundreds of others are also living in fear and in the danger of being detained because of the same issue.

china is a very good country and the people are nice.i believe that our visa restriction is something that our country can resolve with them diplomaticaly.

may god bless you as you try your best to do your job !!!

long live the federal republic of nigeria !!!

yours faithfully,

osita chiagorom [ositac@yahoo.com],

and richard offo [richard_offo@yahoo.com]

Robot  Villager

# 1 Link to the article is here Posted by Robot| 14.10.2005 08:38

Guest

# 2 today,many nigerians in china are scared to death of being recognised as being from niriliyaa < nigeria >. many prefer to claim other nationalities other than nigeria . the most common is usa , south africa , jamaica , ghana and bahamas . Welcome to the Club. Some of us have been saying that since the 1980\'s. there is a rumour which seems to be that the restriction is because nigeria is classified as one of the !0terrorist!1 countries.this is the only\"rumour\" that sounds real. the rumour has it that the 6 countries blacklisted by the chinese government are as follows : nigeria,pakistan,iraq,iran,sri lanka and turkey. You have your norhern nigeria brothers to thank for that. Did you notice that the rest of the counties associated with you are all muslim countries? Posted by Guest| 14.10.2005 12:25

Guest

# 3 Mediocre and comedians Nigerian embassies are manned by mediocrities or comedians; and that goes for most of our leaders, and the so-called middle class. There is also a special bred who are both mediocrities and comedians. Our leaders have been people who cannot even run a corner shop successfully for a year. I fully understand and sympathise with my countrymen in China. The Chinese knows that the Nigerian Embassy is manned by mediocrities and comedians; they know that they can get a way with murder, and the mediocrities and comedians would even blame their own countrymen. The Chinese would never misbehave with British or French or America citizens. They try it with Nigeria because we are a country of mediocrities and comedians – pardon me, for repeating myself. To think that there is a China Town in Nigeria and Chinese enjoying more freedom than in China. Shame onto the Chinese. B. Gillis-Harry Posted by Guest| 14.10.2005 13:32

XtrmlyAngry

# 4 Anyone who has been to any embassy/high commission manned by the Nigerian \"diplomatic core\" anywhere on the planet will know how completely inconsequential and irrelevant they are. \"Tothless bulldog\" implies they can at least bark but this is flattering the staff most of who have no clue why they are being paid. Like most Governmental institutions run by the nigerian state it is filled with incompetent monkeys Posted by XtrmlyAngry| 14.10.2005 16:16

Anike

# 5 Yeah, yeah, yeah...we all know that our leaders are incompetent or what not but...a real solution is needed here. Imagine! This same chin chongs who flood Nigeria trying this stunt? This is just unacceptable. Chinese have been known to have close to 0 tolerance for blacks and I hope OBJ and Adeshakin, or whoever is on his seat now, do something about this fast. Posted by Anike| 14.10.2005 18:51

Carl. Umunnah

# 6 Fellow country-men- Paul Adujie and other brothers who have already reported or have responded on the issue, issue regarding how nigerian-natiionals world-over are being discriminately disrespected, abused, sometimes dismembered with impunity by foreign countries, will tell you that China scenario is just a smaller revelation in this perspective. In retrospect, this has been ungoing since 1980s... In the 80s,90s records show that Nigerians were tortured to death in German jails or prisons. As a member of CLO , the CLO in collaboration with other civil rights groups in Nigeria, with its oversea-partners quickly embarked on a sweeping investigative findings and journalism; this investigation resulted to numerous troubing reports and evidence that showed that our country men and women were tortured to death by German authorities. Thereafter, Nigerian authorities slowly reacted as if they are not precious lives and loved members of nigerian families. It is a shame that this has continued ever since.... Just couple of minutes ago, I spoke to Festus Ukejeh, Former National Association of Nigerian Students , Coordinator Zone B Mobilization grid-lock - 1993; he pointedly and unequivocally told me that things were getting worse for average nigeria back home every passing day. He emphasizd and encouraged us to conitnue the fight against non-existence leadership in Nigeria society; he pointedly narrated how impunitious lootings of federal and state treasuries have continued unabatted even beyond human recognition. I guess the apparent question is, where do our citizens or nationals turn to? I have been to Nigeria mission or consul in NYC, it\'s operational mechanism is totally inept, lazy, slow, totally dysfunctional and completely the same old mentality of characterless exuburrency; oga me, oga ko, oga ni! I couldn\'t stand it, I was so upset that I had to walk-away and didnt\' what to visit with them. What is it! There is lack of seriousness as far as work-ethics is at issue, let alone to find a professional organizational characteristics individuls find at other foreign embassies or missions as it should be ... I have said it time and again that the nation-state in 2005 is in bad shape and the only answer is revolution; economic revolution, political revolution, infrastructural revolution, revolution of the mindset of our people. This revolution-ness has to start with each and every one of us regardless or irrespective of where we are. We need to clean up ourselves and hastily begin to redefine and desocialize ourselves by reviewing the mission and vision of our country; we have little time to waste; it\'s a race against time my friends.... Governmental institutional infrastructures , personnels of our so-called embassies are pretty incompenent, filled with nepotism and cronyism; and some of its personnels whom you would assume know what they are doing, are so terrified or afraid of their ogas let alone speak up for change with respect to the unprofessionalistic way things are run at the Nigeria missions in foreign countries. Get it, there is general lack of pride, general lack of sense of urgency, general lack of individual vision, let alone quick response to situations like China situation. Tribalism is so strong among embassy employees. Preferences or assistances are despatched based ethnic-line rather than on project nationalistic interests or praxis; Ibos for Ibos; Yorubas for Yorubas; Hausas for Hausas and so forth. In fact, they pretend nationalism; nationalism is at the lowest benchmark in my view, of our Republic. That has to change if we are to forge ahead or to your tents oh Israel! Could you imagine China torturing and detaining our nationals for an expired visas if it\'s true. Under interntional law and diplomatic relations, when foreign nationals visas expires, what the host country\'s responsibility is is to report the offending nationals to their country\'s mission and arrange renewal or deportation contegencies were necessary and accordingly; and, not summarily detaining foreign residence unendingly as is the case in this China millieu. And, make no mistake, there are worst cases of Nigerian nationals be held incommunicado in foreign countries. Thats what we get when there is absolute lack of leadership for decades in the Republic -in this case - Nigeria state. Many fo you will agree with the writer that Nigeria is a lawless society, were anything goes. A premise which makes it criminal to be lawful in a lawless society; and such criminality creatively creates a climate of directionlessness for example. You can quote me, we can pretend as much as you want: not until both the fellowership and the leadership of the enterprise -NGR, respect and apply itself to the laws and the constitution of the land, devoid of sacred cows, there will definitely be more to come and more to hear domestically and internationally that is so revealing and disturbing communications about nigerian nationals being held incommunicado in foreign lands. Show me a righteous leadership and I will show you a righteous nation or a righteous people. There is no natinalism in NGR, what we have is ethnicitism, cronyism, and nepotism; these unnationalistic tendencies have eaten unimaginably-deep into the societal-fabric and or its infrastructural-grid-lock of the crumbling enterprise called Nigeria. Maybe, an extra-terrestial invervention is possible - or it\'s mission impossible III. Carl. Umunnah Former Chief Mobilization of Officer-CMO -NANS Posted by Carl. Umunnah| 14.10.2005 20:16

Guest

# 7 One of the guests wrote: \"To think that there is a China Town in Nigeria and Chinese enjoying more freedom than in China. Shame onto the Chinese.\" My brother, more shame to the Nigerians and the Nigerian government who allow foreigners to have a bigger share of the Nigerian market and economy, and who also treat foreigners as infinitely more valuable than their fellow Nigerians. As long as we continue to wallow in this our nonsense of not thinking things through in the different aspects of our lives as blacks or Nigerians or whatever; then we certainly deserve what we get. Posted by Guest| 15.10.2005 00:54

Guest

# 8 Chinese are cunning people!! FG please stop and/or ban any goods from China. They are just cheats. If they think they need Nigerian market, the should come and industrialize Nigeria with their cheap Technologies. We Nigerians should learn from their companies in Nigeria...they want to re-colonise Nigeria and Africa as a whole...They are poor people with poor technology they stole from japan, Germany and US. Nigerians should be careful dealing with Chinese people.....They will spoil Nigeria economy....FG should as a matter of importance checkmate the influx of Chinese and Chinese goods into Nigeria and deport Chinese people who are not qualified and/or not ready to build industries in Nigeria. They are very poor people!! I was in China, they dont like (FEJO-REN) Africa People....they say we are poor!! Now they want to go to Poor continent and sell their cheap products. Africa countries should pursue them away unless they build companies,source the raw materials locally and employ the locals. They are cheaps!! FG Beware!! Posted by Guest| 15.10.2005 22:14

Anike

# 9 My Landlord said I should \"try not to cook my Curry filled food in her kitchen\" Me then, I was naive as a newborn...I thought she meant well. She said the neighbors would report me because the smell is too strong. After a month or so of yeye food, no one though me before I brought out my pots and spoons. But I guess there are some nice ones. I used to go to her Chinese Church because there was no Nigerian Church. At least within a reasonable distance and I had no car. Good old days. Let me carry my blabbermouth go and reminiscence elsewhere. My point? Me sef no know. Posted by Anike| 17.10.2005 21:31

Guest

# 10 Anyway i will not say i was surprised when i readed about this disgrace. To start with we Nigerian must not fail to blame ourselve for what ever we are going through today, around the world, when we make up our mind to stop crime and face the right way, then the world might start to change the feeling towards us. I am talking out of experince i am based in thialand so i no what i am talking about, my fellow Nigerian here in Thailand, will not stop to bring shame to themself, after you will complain that, the Chinese or the Thais dont like us. how will they like us,when all that we do is to sell drugs,419,fake credit cards, to mention but a few. The funny thing is that they more nigeria that are caught for drugs activity, the more that are coming from nigeria to replace them. So until we stop all this evil way of life we will never get the respect that we deserve. Now back to the visa issuse, it not the frist time our govt. is letting Nigerian citizen down, so we should learn how to do without the help of our govt. if you are doing anything aboard and you are expect help from our embassy you wasting you time. we can only pray that God touch the mind of the Chinese offical to deport those poor Nigerians held captive . My advise to my fellow country men, is to change our ways and embrace light, and try to prevent getting into problems aboard cause no body will come to your aid. that is the truth. may God bless us all, and our country Nigeria. Posted by Guest| 02.11.2005 03:39

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