Many weeks after Egyptian policemen harassed and framed Nigerian cleric Rev Dr Israel Kristilere for sexual assault at Cairo International Airport, neither the government nor its concerned agencies has deemed it necessary to speak on the dehumanising development.

The silence of the Nigerian authorities according to observers of the incident goes a long way to show the value the government places on its citizens. For the observers, the choice of the Nigerian government to ignore the Egyptian officials’ condemnable action could make other countries mete out worse treatment to the citizens.

As of the time of filing this report, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry is yet to comment on the development.

The Nigeria In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) which was quick to jump on the case of the citizens trafficked to Ghana has also not seen any good reason to comment on the incident probably because it hasn’t generated so much public attention it could latch on to to win cheap applause from the public.

The predicament of the Nigerian cleric is narrated below:

Rev Dr Israel Kristilere, the Senior Pastor of SheperdHill Baptist Church Obanikoro Lagos and CEO of Oasis of Faith Intercontinental Limited, a private Christian pilgrimage company in a viral video in a viral video last week told about how Egyptian policemen framed him up for sexual assault at Cairo International Airport while waiting to board a plane to Amman.

Reliving his experience in the viral video, Reverend Kristilere said:

“I had a very traumatic experience at Cairo International Airport on April 30, 2024. I left Lagos for Amman through Egypt Airlines with a group of 28 pilgrims and we had a stopover for four hours in Cairo before we boarded the second leg from Cairo to Amman,” he said as he began reliving hi ordeal in the video.

“I took all our pilgrims o our connecting Gate H2 around 9pm. And having sent them there, myself and another woman on the trip who are flying business class left for the business class lounge. We were in that lounge until one hour before our next flight when I told her to let us go back to the gate since I saw the notification that the gate of our connecting flight was open.

On getting there, Rev Kristilere said, “I saw the pilgrims seated and not going through the gate’s security checks. I asked them why and they replied that they tried to but were asked to go back and sit down and allow others to go through the check first. I then went to the counter and asked a young man I saw there if they were not attending to Amman passengers yet and he confirmed that they were already doing that.

“So, I told all the pilgrims to rise up and let us go through the gate formalities to board our next flight. As we lined up to go through the formalities, I saw some policemen and some airport staff discussing. I wondered what they were talking about and initially I thought it was about our documentation or visa that they wanted to confirm.”

Police whisk cleric away

In the course of trying to get his people to be attended to, a team of police officers asked the reverend to step aside and allow others to go through the security check. “At that time, I told the other woman to wait for me while others can go through their security checks. So the policemen asked me to follow them to their office. At this time I still assumed that it had to do with our documentation. I had to bring out all the documents relating to our trip.

“They then took me to the office of the head of the police of the airport. Three police officers entered with me while about 12 others waited outside looking at us through the door which was left open.”

To his chagrin, the chief police officer asked “if I knew what offence I had committed. I wondered what the offence was and replied ‘I had not committed any offence.’ Then they brought a man in as an interpreter who told me in English that a lady had just accused me of sexual assault and that the punishment was a jail term and that I should be ready to go to jail.”

Shocked by the allegation, Rev Kristilere retorted “who, where, when and how? Then they pointed at a lady who decided to hide her face behind another lady when I tried to look at her direction. I told the interpreter ‘I’d never seen the lady talkless of talking with her. The police chief then said ‘in our country we belief the world of any woman as true and that means with or without evidence you are guilty’. He then said there was a video evidence. When I heard that there was a video evidence, I was relieved and I requested for the video evidence.

“He later said there was no need for video evidence because it will make me miss my flight unless I agreed to their offered solution. I made it clear that if they had any video evidence , they would not find me there because I had been at the business class lounge for three hours and I had an alibi among my pilgrims who was there with me in the lounge till we left for the gate.

“Then they said there was a witness and immediately, a young man came forward and stated that he was a witness to the assault. I asked where and when but there was no answer. The police chief then said since there was a witness, I would only go if I accepted the solution he would offer.”

Continuing, he said: “I asked what was the solution, he then said I must apologise to the lady in a way that she must accept. I then asked, how do I apologise for what I had not done. He insisted if I did not apologise I shall be charged to court. I then tried to look in the direction of the lady who was still hiding her face behind another lady and said ‘lady, I have never met you. I have no idea of what you are talking about but possibly someone else has attacked you and you mistook me for the person, nevertheless, sorry to you if you are offended anyway. But let it be known that I have no idea of what you are saying. The police chief then turned to a man who was said to be her boss if my apology was accepted and he said it was okay.”

Police demand signature on weird document

The plot to nail the reverend didn’t stop at asking him for apology. Thereafter, the police chief said he should follow him to another office and leave his hand luggage behind. “I objected to that idea by saying ‘I cannot leave my bag behind because the rule of every airport is that passengers must always be with their luggage. I cannot leave my luggage behind’.

Around this time, I began to discern that they were up to something. They were trying to look for every means to se me up. When we got to the other office, I was asked to wait outside when the police chief and other officers entered. At this time, I told myself that if these people should succeed, there was no way to free myself.

“I was totally isolated from my pilgrims who were supposed to be boarding the next flight. I could not understand their conversation which they were making in Arabic. I then picked up my phone, pressed the record button and kept the phone back in my pocket at least that would be my only evidence in the future. After a while, they invited me to the office and was asked to come and sign a document they had prepared in Arabic. I refused to sign because I told them ‘I did not know what they had written. That would be stupid of me as an educated person. They said if I did not sign, I would go to jail. They said it did not matter, that what they just wrote was a settlement. I still said no.

“To the glory of God, I have spent over 25 years of my life studying up to PhD level. I cannot sign what I do not know. The police chief then got angry and shouted me down and said ‘you will miss your flight and I will detain you and will charge you to court. I then said to him, if God says I will go to jail for an offence I did not commit, so be it but I will not sign unless I know what was written. Then the so called interpreter offered to read the content to my hearing and I told him I could not trust his reading. I insisted that I could only sign if they rewrite it in English.”

When they began to mount pressure on him, Rev Kristilere said: “I took the biro and wrote below the Arabic write up ‘ I do not know. I planned to write ‘I do not know what is written above but I am compelled to sign this document, therefore, I am not aware of the contents above’. But when the saw me writing, ‘I do not in English’ one of the officers snatched the biro from me and shouted me down. The police chief then insisted that if I didn’t sign I will miss my flight which should have taken off and they will detain me and charge me to court the following morning. Then, an idea came to my mind. Since I had succeeded in writing ‘I do not below the Arabic, it speaks volumes. I picked the biro again and wrote my surname. While doing that, a desk manager of the check in counter came in and talked to them in Arabic.

“After a long Like magic, they handed over my passport to me and asked him to take me to the aircraft. I did not understand the magic words that effected my release until I got to the tarmac. At the foot of the aircraft, I saw all my 27 pilgrims standing at the entrance of the aircraft. They had refused to board the plane unless their leader was released against all pleas and threats even from the pilot who told them he will take off without them. They refused to enter the aircraft unless their leader was released. Now I know that was my saving grace.

The refusal of the 27 persons who had already checked in to enter the plane frustrated their plot. That was the reporter that the desk manager brought to this syndicate at their airport. They would have succeeded if I were travelling alone. I wonder what they would have achieved if there were no people that I was travelling with. The would have succeeded in making me miss my flight and extorted me, I am still traumatised by that event, wondering what would have happened. What else would have happened if there were no other passenger with me. No doubt, this could have happened gto many other persons who would have been charged to court for wrong accusations or ending up being extorted by this syndicate in that airport.

Aside from his experience, the clergyman said: “Many people have also relived their experiences in some of these airports but I wouldn’t want to talk about that since I haven’t personally.

“In Cairo, they have done that to many people. A woman went with three children and the following dsy when she woke up they told her she had two children. They asked where she got the third one because they only had record of two children. The woman said I submitted passports of myself and my three children yesterday. They said no that she smuggled the third child. You can imagine all manners of schemes that these do just to extort. The Nigerian government should do something to stem the tide. They should let the Egyptians know we are not inferior to them.”

Following the incident, the reverend said: “Many of us who are private tour operators have decided to steer clear of Egypt Air going to Israel. We just had a conference here in Tel Aviv where the Lord Bishop Stephen Adegbite and other stakeholders have decided that none of us should take Egypt Air to Jordan or Israel.”

More than a month after the incident, he said the Egyptian authorities have not deemed it necessary to apologise for the despicable conduct of its officials.

“They have not apologised. Egypt Air has also not reached out. There is no way Egypt Air will say that they are not aware of what happened. They all acted as if nothing happened.

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