Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa,
has described the latest extra-judicial killing of a Nigerian in South
Africa
as “worrying and condemnable”.
Dabiri-Erewa in a
statement in Abuja on Monday said the latest gruesome killing of Tochukwu Nnadi
by Police in South Africa, was unacceptable to the people and government of
Nigeria.
The statement was
signed by her Media aide, Mr Abdur-Rahman Balogun.
She reiterated
President Muhammadu Buhari’s calls to Nigerians to avoid crimes like drug
peddling which attracts stiff penalties, sometimes death.
The Presidential
aide noted that the killing of Nnadi had brought to 20 Nigerians killed in
South Africa through extrajudicial means in 2016 alone.
While appealing to
Nigerians to avoid crimes, Dabiri-Erewa said the extra judicious killing of
Nigerians is condemnable and unacceptable.
“The barbaric
behaviour of the perpetrators is not only unacceptable but also calls for
urgent attention by diplomatic authorities in Nigeria and South Africa,” she
said.
Dabiri-Erewa urged
the South African Government to ensure that justice prevails by carrying out
investigation and bring the culprit to book.
She reiterated her
calls to Nigerians living abroad to always respect the laws of their host
countries and be good ambassadors of Nigeria.
She recalled that a
Nigerian based in South Africa, Tochukwu Nnadi, was allegedly choked to death
by the Police in South Africa on Thursday, Dec. 29, after he was arrested for
allegedly selling drugs.
According to
eyewitnesses, the man, popularly known as King Kingsley, was not struggling
after he was arrested and handcuffed, but one of the officers held onto his
neck and squeezed tightly until blood started gushing out.
“My heart goes out
to the families of the deceased and pray God to grant the departed soul eternal
rest,” the SSA prayed.
Meanwhile, the
Nigeria Union in Pretoria had confirmed the latest killing.
The Secretary of the
union, Mr Adetola Olubajo, told newsmen in Pretoria that “the Nigeria Union is
calling on the Nigerian Mission to demand results of investigations of all
murder cases involving Nigerian victims from the South African authority’’.
Olubajo said that
the union was not happy that all murder cases involving Nigerians in South
Africa were never resolved.
In the year 2016
alone, it has brought to 20, the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa
under such cruel circumstances.
Among such victims
were Ikejiaku Chinedu, Monday Okorie, Gideon Ogalaonye, Nnamdi Michael, Adeniyi
Olumoko, Christian Onwukaike and Tochukwu Nnadi.
Nigerians are
perennial victims of the xenophobia in South Africa, with Nigerians losing more
than 4.6 million Rand or N90 million during the last attacks.
The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 150 South African business organisations are
currently operating in Nigeria, despite the former’s allegedly restrictive
policies, which have made it difficult for Nigerians to invest in that country.
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