Watching this Youtube video brought tears to my eyes. It shows what seems to be a typical Sunday religious service at a small church. A young African man, accompanied by an Asian guitarist, sings a heartfelt gospel song as the audience sings along.

But the camera does not show the security guards, iron bars and barbed wire fences that would have indicated this was no ordinary place. The singer, 41 year Okwudili Oyatanze who was executed today in Indonesia, was giving his regular performance at a penitentiary outside the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Known in Indonesia’s penal system as “The Death Row Gospel Singer,” Mr. Oyatanze was arrested in 2001 while trying to smuggle 5.5 pounds of heroin through Jakarta’s international airport, in his
stomach, after arriving on a flight from Pakistan. He was convicted the following year and sentenced to death.

Mr. Oyatanze made the most of his incarceration, writing more than 70 songs and recording multiple albums behind bars. He has performed with prison guards as well as fellow inmates.

In the Youtube video, shot in 2008, Mr. Oyatanze sang his song “God You Know,” which was also the name of an album he released that year.

“He has turned his life around in jail,” said the Rev. Charles Burrows, a Catholic priest from Ireland who now lives in Indonesia and offered religious counseling to Mr. Oyatanze before his execution today.

Raised in Biafra, a strife­torn region in southeastern Nigeria, Mr. Oyatanze started a garment business in 1999, traveling to Indonesia to buy clothing and resell it in Nigeria. The business collapsed, and Mr. Oyatanze, heavily in debt, traveled to Pakistan to try to revive it, at the suggestion of a fellow Nigerian living there.

The plan involved swallowing capsules of heroin before boarding a flight to Jakarta. “There was a chance to earn some easy money, so he became a courier,” Mr. Burrows said.

http://www.lailasblog.com/2015/04/touching-video-of-now-dead-nigerian.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ozq_xytmw

If he had developed and harnessed this side of his life,maybe he would have made it big!

To think he once had a business that collapsed is a reminder of our collective problems as a nation. Difference between him and many others is that they tried again.

There are no shortcut to success people

....

Dead bones shall once again rise..

!!!!!!!!!

If truly u sang from ur heart wt genuine repentance, Am looking forward to meeting u in d pearly gate of heaven!!

wickedness at da highest order..cnt stop crying

barnacle:
wickedness at da highest order..cnt stop crying

Which one is the wickedness?

I don't feel sorry for any drug trafficker. Also they knew how indonesia dealt with drug dealers yet dat didn't stop dem. Now suddenly he knows how to sing. Rip...if u come back to this world, learn to tow ur line. Next tym.

barnacle:
wickedness at da highest order..cnt stop crying

Useless tears of a would-be trafficker I guess?



These are the people that are giving this country very bad image all over the world - When other nationalities will only show their passport and they would be left alone ,Nigerians would undergo gruesome ordeal all in the name of 'search' yet you're here crying for a drug kingpin that is fronting repentance hoping for some gods to save him from his own self inflicted pains and anguish.

I have no tears for any form of criminal personality - They are evils that must be wiped out from the society.

He's gone.. He's gone

Truckpusher:
Useless tears of a would-be trafficker I guess?



These are the people that are giving this country very bad image all over the world - When other nationalities will only show their passport and they would be left alone ,Nigerians would undergo gruesome ordeal all in the name of 'search' yet you're here crying for a drug kingpin that is fronting repentance hoping for some gods to save him from his own self inflicted pains and anguish.

I have no tears for any form of criminal personality - They are evils that must be wiped out from the society.

take ur tym to imagine he could c bn ur broda ur cluz frnd or neighbor.m nt supporting his actions but he could v bn dat friend who ws alwys willing to hlp u wen u need it..he myt b dat man who has a large family bundle on his shoulders and out of desperatn tuk to drug trafickin...wah happened to lienency to does wit good bhviours.indonesia is only treating the symptoms,have they discovered d source of the infection.drug trafficking is a network with big guns leading.killing a few doesnt mean it would stop.it might slow down a bit but its still thre until the source z discovrd n tkn down

its lyk u r there leader thats y u dont care n tmao ull go to church preaching da 10commandment.SMH