"I can't breathe...I can't breathe...My neck..my neck," the Nigerian diplomat screamed repeatedly, as the Indonesians pushed his neck and back harder and harder against the backseat of the car, and as his life slowly ebbed away from him.
Two of the men continued to hold him hard as he writhed in pain and begged for his life.
A video of the incident has since gone viral, eliciting a strong reaction from Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry.
The official was manhandled and arrested by immigration officials on Saturday, August 7, 2021 in front of his official quarters in Indonesia.
"The unfortunate incident is against international law and the Vienna Conventions governing Diplomatic and Consular Relations between states,” Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Ministry says in a statement.
The statement adds that the Indonesian government and the men who perpetrated the act, have tendered their apologies.
“The Nigerian Government has complained strongly to the Government of Indonesia, and the Ambassador of Indonesia to Nigeria was summoned by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The Ambassador explained what he understood happened and apologised unreservedly on behalf of the Government of Indonesia. The Nigerian Government has sent an official protest to the Government of Indonesia.
“The Ambassador of Nigeria to Indonesia has confirmed that the immigration official involved had since come to the Nigerian Embassy to apologise to the Ambassador and the diplomat concerned,” the statement reads further.
Profiling Nigerians abroad and in Asia is not uncommon.
