Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu walked into an Ethiopian prison, smiled with Nigerian inmates, and got roasted for it. Now a former Tinubu aide is firing back.
Josef Onoh, who served as Southeast spokesman for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has publicly defended the minister after former presidential aide Babafemi Ojudu questioned her cheerful demeanour during a visit to Nigerian prisoners in Ethiopia. A video showing Ojukwu laughing and interacting warmly with inmates had sparked criticism.
Onoh, who also chairs the Forum of Former Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, said Ojudu's comments missed the point. In a statement on Monday, he argued that the visit wasn't a celebration of crime but a piece of serious diplomacy with a real outcome: a signed bilateral Prisoner Transfer Agreement between Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“It was with disappointment that I read Ojudu’s comments concerning the diplomatic engagement of Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, during her visit to Ethiopian prisons,” Onoh said.
He stressed that the agreement is something previous administrations failed to secure. The Tinubu government got it done. And the minister's interaction with inmates, Onoh said, was empathy, not endorsement.
“Nigerian prisoners, some of whom had languished for years and witnessed deaths in custody, were finally seeing a path home. Joy, relief, and cultural expression in that context are natural human responses.”
Onoh acknowledged that prisons are for punishment and rehabilitation. But he said the inmates remain Nigerian citizens entitled to consular protection. The transfer deal, he argued, supports rehabilitation by bringing prisoners closer to their families and legal processes back home.
He also pushed back against the idea that the visit sends the wrong message to law-abiding citizens. Countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and EU nations routinely transfer prisoners, he pointed out. “Effective diplomacy is results-oriented. Ambassador Ojukwu delivered a tangible outcome: repatriation for over 100 Nigerians,” Onoh said.
He tied the visit to President Tinubu's Renewed Hope agenda and its 4-D foreign policy, which puts citizens at the centre of diplomacy.
Onoh also invoked the legacy of Bianca Ojukwu's father, the late Chief C.C. Onoh, a former Governor of old Anambra State. He said her father was known for interacting directly with ordinary citizens — a trait she inherited. “Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and the Tinubu administration deserve commendation for prioritising Nigerian lives. Nigeria is moving forward,” Onoh stated.
Bianca Ojukwu, a former beauty queen and lawyer, was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister in 2023. She's the widow of the late Biafran leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. The prisoner transfer deal is one of her first major diplomatic achievements in office.