Nigerians in Italy have refuted the recent claims by Osaze Osemwengie-Ero, an erstwhile Edo commissioner, that Nigerians residing in Italy are being maltreated by the Italian government.
Michael Oputteh, Welfare Officer, National Union of Nigerian Associations in Italy (NUNAI), said that Osemwengie-Ero also claimed that more than 300 Nigerians were being unlawfully detained in the Western European country.
In a statement made available to newsmen recently, Oputteh denied the claim by Ero, an Edo former Commissioner for Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs.
Ero, who returned to Nigeria after he was released from detention in Italy, raised the alarm that more than 300 Nigerians were currently languishing in Italian prisons.
He further claimed that he too was wrongly detained by the Italian government.
According to him, he was a victim of racial discrimination and manipulation of a “very corrupt“ prosecutor of the Italian Justice system and that many Nigerians are in his shoes over there in Italy.
However, NUNAI disagreed with Ero’s claims by stressing that Italian authorities had never targeted Nigerians for any harassment or racial discrimination.
