By Chiawo Nwankwo and Mudiaga Affe
Published: Tuesday, 17 Jul 2007

She added that despite Aikpitanhi’s alleged offences, he did not deserve to be manacled and gagged while aboard an Iberian airline, which ultimately led to his death.

Etteh made her protest before the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Angel Losada, who paid her a courtesy call in her office in Abuja.

Her disapproval of the manner Aikpitanhi died came just as she told the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Jacob Buba Gyang, to initiate a programme of decongesting Lagos ports and others.

Assaults on Aikpitanhi that resulted in his death and the return of his corpse to Spain had, in the last three weeks, been a subject of diplomatic altercation between Nigeria and the House on the one hand and Spain on the other.

She said, “It is good for the(Nigerian) government to know what has really gone wrong and what he did that warranted his death.

“If you have a law that says that anybody (who allegedly) rapes (a person) or refuses to be deported should be killed, so be it.

“But I think he has a country he can be deported to rather than being killed. It is pertinent for us to go there and see things for ourselves. Tying his hands and gagging him, leading to his death, is not the best.”

She further advised the Spanish authorities to immediately return the corpse to Nigeria, in order to assuage agony of his parents and relations.

Losada had earlier expressed regrets over Aikpitanhi’s death, saying that the circumstances leading to his transition were not justifiable.

He hoped that the ugly development would not affect the good bilateral relations between the two countries.

He disclosed that the incident was being investigated by both the Spanish Senate and a court.

The ambassador also used the occasion of his visit to hand over to Etteh an official letter from the Spanish legislature, inviting her to a forum where multi-lateral issues concerning the West African sub-region would be addressed.

Meanwhile, Ette has denied that there was rancour in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

Ette, who disclosed this on Monday at the presidential lounge of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, said there was no rancour. She said there were systems and procedures for forestalling any such development.

She added that there was a measure of peace in the House, and that the lawmakers were working to sustain it.

The Speaker was reacting to perceived problems that might come up in the selection of different committees in the House.