By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Nigerian authorities summoned on Monday the Indonesian ambassador to appeal for commuting death sentences against two Nigerian nationals convicted of drug trafficking.
"The Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador Harry Purwato to plead for clemency on behalf of our nationals on death row in his home country," Ode Ogbole, the ministry spokesman, told The Anadolu Agency.
He said Nigeria is asking that the death sentences be commuted to life sentences.
"We are urging them to temper justice with mercy," Ogbole noted.
Nigeria and Indonesia have a number of bilateral relations but no prisoner exchange arrangement which could see the convicts serve their terms in Nigeria, if the plead is heeded.
Ten drug offenders, including foreigners from France, Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana and the Philippines, have been sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia.
The death penalty was resumed in the country in 2013 after a five-year hiatus but the first executions only occurred earlier this year when six drug offenders, including five foreigners, were executed.
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