Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, described the latest extra-judicial killing as “worrying and condemnable”.
Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said the gruesome killing of 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 the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in 2016 alone.
Appealing to Nigerians to avoid crimes, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said the killing of Nigerians is 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.
Mrs. 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, 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.
The Nigeria Union in Pretoria had confirmed the latest killing.
Its secretary, Mr. Adetola Olubajo, told reporters in Pretoria that “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 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 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.
No fewer than 150 South African business organisations are 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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