-The Federal Government has asked
the South African Government to investigate and punish those involved
in the killing of a Nigerian in Johannesburg in December last year
-
The FG also called on Pretoria to end extrajudicial killings,
criminalisation of immigrants and xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
-
The Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora,
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that Nigeria and South Africa should rather
be engaging in cooperation that could lead to social-economic
development as the two giants of Africa
The
Federal Government has asked the South African Government to
investigate and punish those involved in the killing of a Nigerian in
Johannesburg in December last year.
It also called on Pretoria to end extrajudicial killings, criminalisation of immigrants and xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
The
Punch reports that the Special Assistant to the President on Foreign
Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who visited the South African
High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, in Abuja on Tuesday 7th
February sought assurances that xenophobic attacks against Nigerians by
South Africans would be stopped.
Her visit was sequel to the killing of a Nigerian, Tochukwu Nnadi, in December last year by South African police officers.
Nnadi was choked to death for allegedly dealing in hard drug.
Dabiri-Erewa complained that over
116 Nigerians were killed within two years in South Africa. She said 63
per cent of the extrajudicial killings were carried out by the police.
She
expressed sadness over the criminalisation of Nigerians by South
Africans, noting that Nigeria and South Africa should rather be engaging
in cooperation that could lead to social-economic development as the
‘two giants of Africa.’
The presidential aide 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.
“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.”
Erewa
pointed out that Nigerians who broke the law deserved to be punished,
but added that jungle justice should not be meted on them.
She said: “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.”
Dabiri-Erewa,
however, admonished Nigerians living in foreign countries to respect
the laws of their hosts, noting that their activities impacted on their
compatriots who are law abiding.
Earlier,
the ambassador had expressed regrets over the killings and assured his
guests that the Nigerian government would get the report of
investigations into deaths of Nigerians in South Africa.
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