*Photo:Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu( 4th right), alongside Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu and other government officials, receiving the returnees on arrival *
Five young Nigerians who were detained in MACA Prison, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, since August last year, and recently rescued by the Federal Government, have returned to the country.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, alongside Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu and other government officials, received the returnees on arrival at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Tuesday 30th June 2026.
Six of them, Aliyu Malami, Nasiru Umar, Shamsu Abubakar, Sa’adu Bello, Lyman Mohammed and Usama Murtala, had gone on a trading trip from Sokoto to Abidjan by road, were arrested, and incarcerated without charge or trial before the government’s intervention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement on Wednesday.