Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
According to Onweluzo, he is currently being frustrated and forced by Indian authorities to plead guilty to a drug-related crime, which he insists he did not commit.
ANigerian national, Obinna Onweluzo, originally from Nnewi in Anambra State, South-East Nigeria, but lives in New Delhi, India, has issued a passionate appeal to the Nigerian government to urgently intervene to secure his freedom from Indian prison.
Onweluzo lamented that he has been unjustly held in an Indian prison for over six years without a conviction.
According to Onweluzo, he is currently being frustrated and forced by Indian authorities to plead guilty to a drug-related crime, which he insists he did not commit.
indian
Speaking exclusively to SaharaReporters, Onweluzo narrated his ordeal since his arrest in December 2018.
“Everything I have been telling you since the beginning of this case is nothing but the truth,” he said.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
SaharaReporters reported on July 3, 2024, that Onweluzo called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to urgently intervene to secure his freedom from the Indian prison where he had been trapped since the Indian police arrested him and “falsely” accused him of drug trafficking.
Onweluzo told SaharaReporters that his ordeal started on December 26, 2018, when his friend from Liberia—a footballer in Kolkata West, Bengal, India—invited him to Kolkata.
Trapped In Indian Prison For Over 5 Years, Nigerian Proclaims Innocence, Pleads With Tinubu Government To Secure His Release
Jul 03, 2024
Image
photo
‘I Was Pressured To Plead Guilty To A Crime I Didn’t’ Commit’
Almost a year after his previous outcry for help from the Nigerian government without getting any help, Onweluzo again cried out, saying that the Indian police and lawyers are putting pressure on him to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
He also claimed that he is being held in prison and prosecuted without substantial evidence against him for the crime he is being accused of.
Onweluzo stated that despite completing the presentation of eight witnesses in November 2024, his case has made no progress.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
He said the next procedural step, followed by arguments and judgment, has repeatedly been delayed or ignored.
“Section 313 is where the magistrate will ask you some questions after arguments, but since last November, when my witness finished, 313 should follow, but nothing happened,” he said.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
He said, “They only took me to court on my court dates, and I would remain in court, locked up till evening, then the police would go inside the courtroom and bring the date and take me back to prison.”
In January 2024, after experiencing yet another delay, Onweluzo said he confronted one of the arresting officers.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
“He told me to plead guilty, that that is the only way out, but I said no,” he said.
After reaching out to his sister, a professor at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Nigeria, he said he was advised not to yield to the pressure of pleading if he was sure he did not commit the crime.
“She told me not to plead guilty, that if I did it, it would be on their record that Nigerians are committing criminal activities in their country, that I should stand on the truth, I know, no matter what,” he said.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
According to him, his frustrations reached a boiling point during a court appearance on April 2.
“They took everyone to the courtroom except me,” he told SaharaReporters.
“I called a police officer and confronted him, and he told me it’s not their fault, but when he saw how angry I was, he went and started making calls. Later, he came and took me to the courtroom around 2 pm,” he explained.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
He eventually confronted a police officer and was allowed in, but he was denied re-entry after briefly stepping out to use the restroom.
He said, “On reaching the courtroom, the magistrate was there, my lawyer was there, so the magistrate was treating other cases till 4 pm and I was so pressed (I needed to use the bathroom) then I called the police officer in charge and told him so he went to take permission from the clerk, after he took me to lock up to pee.
“After I finished peeing and asked him to return me to the courtroom, he said no, that my session was over.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
“I told him it can’t be so, that I took permission to ease myself (pee), and the magistrate and my lawyer were still in the courtroom. He began to make calls again, and after he took me to court.
“So on reaching the court, my lawyer was not there anymore. It was around 4:35 pm by then, so after the magistrate told them that the court was closed for the day he stood up and entered his chamber.
Nigerian Man Jailed In India For Over 6 Years Cries Out: ‘They’re Forcing Me To Plead Guilty To Crime I Didn’t Commit’
“When the police in charge wanted to take me back to the cell, I refused and started making complaints, and the clerk called me and asked me what the problem was.
“So I started to explain, but honestly, I was speaking at the top of my voice because I was so angry. I told him they should tell me what is happening in my case, that they usually spoke in their language instead of English, and that I didn’t understand anything from day one.”
During the court session, Onweluzo reportedly raised concerns about procedural irregularities, including a lack of translation and inconsistencies in the police report.
He told SaharaReporters that the magistrate heard his voice, came out of his chamber, and asked him what the problem was.
“I told him that my trial is unfair, according to what the police wrote, they said it is 18 grams of cocaine they seized from me, which is not true.
“That even at that, I have spent more than the sentence according to their law. He asked me how long I had been in jail, and I told him since 2018, and he was like “what?”
He said the magistrate was visibly surprised upon hearing he had been detained for so long.
After consulting with a lawyer in the courtroom, he said the magistrate learned that the sentence for such a crime ranges from six months to five years, with a maximum of 10 years.
But surprisingly, “The same lawyer that the magistrate told to check the prison terms, in front of the judge, started attacking me, telling me it is all my fault and that I should have pleaded guilty and gone home.
“I asked him in the presence of the court, why should I plead guilty when I am not? He didn’t say anything again.”
Onweluzo claimed the magistrate then scheduled a follow-up for April 3, 2025, during which the long-delayed Section 313 procedure was finally conducted.
“The next day, 3rd April, they took me to the courtroom around 2 p.m. I was there until every procedure of that day finished around 4:30. No one was in the court again except the magistrate, clerk, and three lawyers.
“The magistrate told me that the 313 would be done that day, that he would ask me questions, and that I should answer the ones I know and the ones I don’t know, and I should keep quiet.
“All the questions he asked me were according to what the police wrote on the charge sheet, which are lies, except my house address in New Delhi, which I admitted, but all others were lies.
“They said they arrested me on one street, which is a lie; they arrested me at the airport, as I just checked out.”
He said he challenged the official narrative and requested CCTV footage from the alleged arrest location and the Dum Dum Airport’s (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata) arrival terminal, where he said he was arrested.
He said, “I narrated the whole incident to the magistrate, including how they took a flight back to where I am living to conduct a search without me and still found nothing.
“I told him to request the CCTV footage of the street they claimed because every street in India has a camera, or he should request CCTV footage of the Dum Dum Airport arrival terminal on December 26, 2018, and many questions which are not true.”
Onweluzo also alleged racial bias in the official documents, adding that a sample of the alleged drug submitted for forensic analysis by the police did not match what the medical officer documented.
“I also reminded him that on the police statement, they called me ‘negro’ more than 13 times and the sample of the contraband the police took to medical examination did not match what the medical officer said they brought,” he said.
Despite raising compelling arguments, his physical court proceedings scheduled for April 23 were cancelled without explanation.
“In the morning of that day, they told me that my court proceedings would be on video conference, not physical production, and the law is that once your case is 313, argument or judgement, it must be physical production,” he explained.
“Even before the April 3 court proceedings in which the 313 happened, they wanted to make me appear on a video conference call for the 313, which my lawyer rejected and told them it’s a physical production.”
He said that on April 23, he even waited for the video conference, but was not taken there.
He said, “But a day before that day, I messaged my lawyer to remind her, and she said I should not worry that she would be there. So the next morning, which was my court date, I messaged her again complaining about not being produced in court.”
Even more troubling, Onweluzo said that after April 3, his case status was not updated in the court system, and no new date was provided.
“So after I didn’t attend court that day, I asked her for my new court date, and she said it had never been given, which is not so. Then I noticed something was wrong,” he said.
“I went to the welfare office, and they showed me in their system that even after my court appearance on April 3, my case status has never been updated on the system, and no date has been given,” he lamented.
He continued, “I don’t know what else to do anymore because all they want is to frustrate me to plead guilty for a crime I did not commit.”
Frustrated and desperate, Onweluzo said he has contacted several Nigerian officials and human rights organisations without success.
He said, “Even the police officer told me to my face that our government does not care for us, so what should they do?
“As it stands now, I have been kidnapped by the Indian government because this is kidnapping.
“I have written several petitions to human rights organisations and the Nigerian High Commission here, but there has been no response.”
He said he would stake his assets in Nigeria to prove his innocence.
He said, “Let me make my stand clear again, I am innocent of these accusations. If the government can come, I will bring out my land documents and my house documents, which are worth millions for them to have and bring a good lawyer to look into this case.
“If I am involved directly or indirectly, let them take the properties and as I have spent 7 years here, if I am back, let them jail me for the same number of years I spent here.”
Maintaining his claim of innocence, Onweluzo said, “Honestly speaking, I am innocent. If I were not, I wouldn’t be running from pillar to post looking for help. I have contacted a lot of people; some didn’t respond.”
