The Indonesian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Usra Harahap, has revealed that assaulted Nigerian diplomat, Abdulrrahman Ibrahim, was the first aggressor during his encounter with Indonesian immigration officers.

Ibrahim was on Saturday arrested and tortured by the Indonesian police after he went out to shop at a supermarket.

Flavision learnt that his Identification card and passport were, however, not with him during his visit to the place.

The Indonesian police officers reportedly did not listen to his plea and he was forced inside a vehicle where he was beaten.

He reportedly started to suffocate as a result of the assault.

However, the Indonesian government has defended the assault Ibrahim was subjected to, as Harahap claimed the Nigerian diplomat first elbowed an immigration official till the latter started to bleed.

On Monday, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama summoned Harahap over the assault of the Nigerian diplomat in Jakarta.

Giving an account of the incident, according to The Punch, Harahap disclosed that the immigration officers from South Jakarta Immigration Office were carrying out surveillance on foreigners when they asked Ibrahim for identification but the diplomat allegedly refused to identify himself or tender his passport.

He stated

By that time, they met with Mr Ibrahim and politely requested him to show his travel document. He answered that his passport was in his room.

Then the officer asked again, ‘Can we see your travel document to check the residence permit and if there are no problems with the document, so you may continue your activities

Mr Ibrahim was not willing to show his passport and said to the officer, ‘you will know who really I am and be careful on that.

Instead of showing his identity card, Mr Ibrahim was angry and said, ‘Just arrest me and you will regret to know who really I am.’

The officer said, ‘We will not detain you, further sir if you can show us your identity card.’ Then Mr Ibrahim said, ‘Where is your car, I’ll come to your office.’

On the way to the immigration office in South Jakarta, several incidents happened. Mr Ibrahim elbowed the immigration officer, Mr Laode Hauzan Baidi, who was sitting next to him until Mr Laode’s lip was bleeding.

This led to other officers restraining him from attacking another officer during the trip.

Explaining that Ibrahim later showed his identity card, Harahap further said,

As of February 22, 2021, there were 180 Nigerian citizens in Indonesian Immigration Detention Centre, who were undergoing the process for deportation.

The envoy further said the issue was resolved when the Nigerian High Commissioner to Indonesia arrived at the South Jakarta Immigration Office around 6:30 pm, together with the staff and his police guard from the Directorate of Security of Vital Objects of Police of the Greater Jakarta Metro Area

He stated that the officer injured by Ibrahim lodged a complaint about the attack on him but did not process it further because the matter had been resolved.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Indonesia, Usman Ogar, and the diplomat, Abdulrrahman Ibrahim, who was assaulted by immigration officers in the South East Asian country, will arrive in the country on Thursday.

The August 7 incident had sparked a diplomatic row between Nigeria and the Indonesian authorities with the Federal Government recalling Ogar for consultation while threatening a review of the bilateral relations between the two nations.

The Punch quoted the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esther Sunsuwa, as saying,

The Federal Government will make its position known after consulting with the recalled Nigerian envoy expected to arrive in the country along with Ibrahim on Thursday (today).

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.