MFA Press Release: Letter from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, 25 January 2007

25 January 2007

Dear President Obasanjo,

I refer to your letter of 23 January 2007 requesting that the sentence of Mr Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi be reviewed.

I would like to assure you that all the factors relevant to Mr Tochi's case have been considered, including the petition for clemency made to President S R Nathan by the Acting High Commissioner en titre, Dr Ozichi Joel Alimole. We did not take the decision lightly. Mr Tochi has committed a serious offence under Singapore law. He was convicted for importing over 700g of diamorphine. This amounts to more than 48,000 doses of heroin on the streets, enough to have destroyed many lives and families. There are no new grounds for the case to be reconsidered and all legal avenues have been exhausted.

The Singapore Government takes a firm stance against drugs to deter Singaporeans and others from importing drugs into Singapore or using the country as a transit hub for narcotics. We have publicised this stance widely, in order to deter would-be traffickers from entering Singapore or operating here. If despite this we find and arrest a trafficker, who is then convicted according to due process of law, then the law has to take its course.

I realise that Mr Tochi's family will find Singapore's position difficult to accept, but we have a duty to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans, and protect the many lives that would otherwise be ruined by the drug syndicates.
Yours sincerely,

(signed)
Lee Hsien Loong

Prime Minister
Singapore