The Federal Government has secured the release of a Nigerian citizen, Pastor Benjamin Egbaji, who had been incarcerated in Benin Republic for over two years.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, announced this in a statement issued on Thursday, January 8, 2026.

Egbaji, a businessman and cleric from Cross River State, was accused of various offences and initially detained under what officials described as dehumanising conditions in a hospital in Cotonou, Benin’s capital, before being transferred to prison as his health deteriorated.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu disclosed that Pastor Egbaji regained his freedom on Thursday, following a presidential pardon granted by Benin Republic President, Patrice Talon.

She said the pardon, gazetted on December 17, 2025, followed sustained diplomatic engagements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including her visit to the detained Nigerian in a Cotonou hospital in August 2025.

The minister attributed the breakthrough to President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to citizen diplomacy, a core component of Nigeria’s foreign policy under the Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly the Diaspora pillar of the Four-Ds framework — Democracy, Demography, Diaspora, and Development.

She noted that the case had drawn public outrage after images of the ailing pastor chained to a hospital bed went viral on social media, prompting intensified diplomatic efforts by Nigeria to secure his release or, at minimum, his transfer to Nigeria for medical care and completion of his sentence.

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