Parents seek early release of son jailed in Nigeria

• Manoj’s parents want Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to intervene
• They appeal to the Union Minister to talk directly to Nigerian premier Muhammadu Buhari
• Buhari to be in New Delhi to participate in the third India-Africa Forum Summit
• Manoj was held captive from a Ghana ship in July 2014 off Nigerian coast when the vessel got stranded
  

Hyderabad: Parents of a marine engineer from Telangana who has been lodged in a Nigerian jail since July last year, on Tuesday urged Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to take up the matter with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to secure his early release. The 26-year-old Manoj Kumar, a marine engineer from Mahabubnagar district, was captured from a ship near the Nigerian coast in July last year along with 10 other Indians when their ship had allegedly ‘mistakenly’ entered Nigerian waters.

Manoj was subsequently arrested along with the 10 other crew members and has been in jail since then. “We again want Union Minister Sushma Swaraj to speak with the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is coming to Delhi, and ensure the early release of my son. We want the Indian government to seek his release at the earliest rather than keeping on enquiring the matter with Indian embassy in Nigeria,” Manoj's father Dasarath said.

“The matter is getting prolonged... Now, we want the Indian government to settle the issue by directly speaking to the Nigerian President on the matter,” Dasarath told a news agency here. “The Indian government should now ensure that our son returns to India. It’s been over two years since his mother and I met him. We are worried about our son,” a distressed Dasarath said. Manoj's mother, who was in tears, appealed for his early release, saying, “I haven't seen my son for over two years.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is set to arrive in New Delhi to participate in the third India-Africa Forum Summit. According to Dasarath, Manoj had left from Mumbai in December 2013 and joined a shipping company in Ghana. “In July 2014, Manoj along with other crew members from India, was aboard a ship transporting scrap from Ghana to Cameroon when it stopped in mid sea due to a technical issue. There were efforts to repair the ship for almost a month, but in the meanwhile, the Nigerian police held them,” he said.

“It was only in August this year I came to know about the arrest of my son, who till then did not inform us about the incident. We had met Sushma Swaraj in August this year in Delhi along with the parents and family members of other crew members, who had then assured that she would get Manoj along with others released by October 12,” Dasarath said adding, “You (Sushma Swaraj) assured on their release... but nothing has happened so far... We want early release of my son.”