International
FG says 116 Nigerians killed in S’Africa in 2-yrs
The Nigerian government has revealed that no less than 116 Nigerians have lost their lives in xenophobic attacks in South Africa, within the last two years.
The Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa made the startling revelation on her visit to the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, in Abuja on Tuesday.
During the visit, she also sought assurances that such attacks on Nigerians would be stopped.
The presidential aide bemoaned the number of Nigerians killed in the last two years and also queried the number of extrajudicial killings carried out by the South African police which is put at 63 per cent.
Dabiri-Erewa’s visit is coming on the heels of the killing of a Nigerian, Tochukwu Nnadi, in December last year by cops in South African for allegedly dealing in hard drugs.
Read also: Bomb attack foiled by security agents in Maiduguri
While addressing the South African High Commissioner, she said; “The last time we came here was on a sad note, we are here again on another sad note, but you have made very good comment about the fact that we need to work together to stop what is going on anywhere in Africa.
Continuing she added that; “We are worried about the criminalisation of immigrants especially among ourselves and we are worried in particular about the criminalisation of Nigerian migrants in South Africa.”
She also said that Nigerians who committed crimes deserved to be punished but added that extra-judicial killings and jungle justice should not be administered as justice on them.
“Yes, some do commit crimes and they deserved to be punished, but the extrajudicial killings worried us. In the last two years, 116 Nigerians had been killed in South Africa and according to statistics, 63 per cent of them were killed by the police and we hope that the death of the Nigerian who died on the 29th of December, 2016, would get justice in the hands of the South African authorities because I know you will and I believe you will.” She added.
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