Purwanto who spoke in Abuja Thursday after he was summoned to the ministry of Foreign Affairs said the execution was carried out strictly in accordance to the legal proceedings, and therefore in order.
Jamiu Owolabi Abashin, 50, Martin Anderson, 50, Okwudili Oyatanze, 41, and Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, 47, were the 4 Nigerians executed on Tuesday in Indonesia over drug related offenses.
Purwanto told journalists after the meeting with the ministry top management that there was nothing that could be done to save the four as the court had ruled over the case and there was nothing the government could have done at that stage.
He said, “There was nothing we could do for those 4 Nigerians because every legal process was completed and only then did the government of Indonesia implement the decision of the court.”
He said necessary opportunity was provided to the convicts for the past ten years the case lasted; adding that his government suspended the moratorium on death penalty due to the gravity and dangerous impact of the drugs on their country.
The envoy further explained that his country suffered from the harsh reality of the drug trafficking as about 4.5 million of their citizens especially the youth, were affected by the narcotics with only about 1.8 million of them have been rehabilitated.
He said further that between 33 to 50 victims of the drugs die every month describing it as unfortunate.
On the issue of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between both countries, he said it would only be possible with a new legislation.
He said, “actually Indonesia will be happy to do that but unfortunately we do not have the legal basis, we have to wait for a new legislation in Indonesia but then we have to convince our members of parliament to do that.”
Undersecretary Economic and Consular Affairs Department of the Minstry, Ambassador Bokunolu Onemola, said the situation was not enough to instigate a row between both countries.
Onemola stressed that Nigeria will not recall its ambassador to Indonesia over the executions.
He also noted that irrespective of the fact that Nigeria protested the executions on the basis of the subsisting friendly relations between both countries, Nigerians must desist from drug trafficking in the countries where capital punishment is implemented.
“One message I would like to convey to my compatriots is that they should know that drug offences in Indonesia attract capital punishment and our appeal is that they should avoid going to these countries to commit these offences because we cannot change their laws. They are a sovereign nation, we can only appeal to them but our citizens should know this and desist from drug trafficking,” he said."
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