The federal government has received five Nigerian citizens rescued from detention in Côte d’Ivoire, revealing that a sixth member of the group died shortly after their release from prison in the West African country.
   
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, alongside the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, and other government officials, received the returnees on Tuesday evening at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
   
The five returnees identified as Aliyu Malami, Nasiru Umar, Shamsu Abubakar, Sa’adu Bello and Lyman Mohammed, were among six young Nigerians who travelled by road from Sokoto to Abidjan on a trading trip in August 2025, before they were arrested and detained in the MACA Prison without charge or trial.
   
The sixth member, Usama Murtala, reportedly fell ill while in custody and died on June 24, 2026, at a Critical Care Hospital in Abidjan, a day after the group regained freedom following diplomatic intervention by the Nigerian government. He was buried the following day in Côte d’Ivoire, in accordance with Islamic rites, after consultations with his family in Sokoto.
   
Meanwhile, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said that Nigerian authorities were unaware of their detention until April this year, when the matter was brought to the ministry’s attention. She explained that the ministry immediately engaged the Nigerian Embassy in Abidjan, which sustained diplomatic efforts with the Ivorian authorities to secure the detainees’ release.
  
She noted that the young men were further disadvantaged by language barriers, as they could neither communicate effectively in French nor obtain legal representation during their detention.
   
The minister further described Murtala’s death as a painful reminder of the dangers faced by many young Nigerians who leave the country in search of better opportunities without understanding the legal and social systems of their destination.
   
Nevertheless, she disclosed the federal government’s intention to pursue compensation from the Ivorian authorities over the circumstances surrounding the detention and death of the deceased.
   
Odumegwu-Ojukwu further appealed to the Sokoto State Government to support the rehabilitation of the five returnees through skills acquisition and empowerment programmes.
   
Speaking on behalf of the returnees, Malami said what was meant to be a business trip turned into months of incarceration under harsh conditions. He attributed much of their ordeal to their inability to communicate with the authorities because of the language barrier.
   
The returnees also received relief packages from the ministry, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other government agencies.