The police officers who detained Gideon Akaluka said it was for his own protection. Gideon took them at their word. Hours later, a fundamentalist mob broke into the jail and beat him to death. They marched around Kano all night carrying Gideon's severed head on a pole.
Gideon's "crime" was his wife's illiteracy. Looking round for something to wipe their young baby with, she tore a page, allegedly, out of the Koran. How was she to know? As members of the ethnic minority Ibo community in Hausa-dominated northern Nigeria, education is virtually forbidden to them.
Gideon's ghost may have wept when the Taoiseach and his Cabinet agreed to sign a refugee repatriation agreement with Nigeria this week. Official Ireland sees Nigeria as a democracy, rather than a country at war with itself. It sees all Nigerians as a one-stop package, requiring a one-stop response.
For very good reason, more Nigerians apply for refugee status in Ireland than other nationals. Many are well educated and highly skilled; most are Christian. On any economic reckoning, Ireland could count itself lucky to attract this calibre of people. But fewer than one are 10 is allowed to stay.
John O'Donoghue explained why to Garda recruits in Templemore. Strictly speaking, the Dublin Convention excused Ireland because "there are no direct flights between here and Nigeria", he said.
If, weeks before, Gideon and his family had tried to secure refugee status in Ireland, their application probably would have been refused as "manifestly unfounded". It is not enough to be a member of an ethnic minority living in fear of tomorrow, or want your baby to grow up in a better place.
Non-Governmental reports on how Nigerians are understood in the refugee and asylum process indicate a level of ignorance on the Irish side that puts stereotypes about American domestic self-obsession in the shade. There is no appreciable sign that Irish bureaucrats realise Nigeria is divided into at least six distinct ethnic and cultural identities.
Conflict between those communities is now such that the Nobel laureate, Chinua Achebe, Nelson Mandela's literary inspiration while he was on Robben Island, describes himself as Ibo, not Nigerian.
Gender-specific offences don't meet Ireland's standards either. Rape is a war crime since the Bosnian conflict, but is not recognised in Irish refugee and asylum procedures because they cling to the narrow interpretations of the 1951 Geneva Convention.
Ask yourself whether you'd like to live in Nigeria. It is the world's second most corrupt country; although rich in natural resources, particularly petroleum, GDP is lower than in the 1970s. Independent UN evidence asserts that in 2000 summary justice led to the killings of hundreds of people and to widespread rape. Its laws are a mess. The overlay of tribal law, British common law and the rising sharia make it difficult for individuals t o receive justice. Christians are increasingly at risk.
Years of military rule ended when a series of deaths removed the main governmental players, along with the opposition leader. But despite being under the titular civilian authority of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the police and military retain considerable power.
President Obasanjo's national security adviser, Gen Aliyu Mohammed, is pressing Tony Blair's government to co-operate with Nigerian authorities in their attempts to recover £307 million stolen by the late dictator, Gen Sani Abacha, and believed to be deposited in London banks.
Even if it was returned to Nigeria, local commentators argue there is no reason to believe it would be reinvested equitably, or used to begin a national literacy programme, determined by regional need.
Bill Clinton tried to support Mr Obasanjo, because, whatever his shortcomings - including his reluctance to discuss organising the country on a fair and federal basis - it is widely believed he is Nigeria's last chance. Nigeria's petrodollars make it an important strategic US concern, yet not enough for it to press him to introduce necessary democratic change.
The only good news about Nigeria is the US Supreme Court's decision last month to allow the relatives of the executed writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, to pursue their civil action for damages against Royal Dutch Shell. The Nigerian government executed Saro-Wiwa, founder of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, along with eight associates in 1995.
In the Lagos Guardian this week, Chief Dafinone, President of the Union of Niger Delta, commented: "When it comes to eating mice, there is no difference between a black cat and a white cat. A cat is a cat and they are all good at eating mice." Nigeria has been sucked dry by the fat cats. To survive there can mean squandering your own moral capital and living an ethical half-life.
Karl Maier, author of Nigeria in Crisis, calls it "a non-productive economy addicted to petrodollars, ruled by a coterie of army officers and bureaucrats growing fat on contract kickbacks and siphoning off the oil revenues". These could be the people with whom John O'Donoghue is about to do business.
mruane@irish-times.ie