Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has again condemned the incessant extra judicial killing of Nigerians living in South Africa.She said the continuous killings showed that South African government was downplaying possible retaliation by Nigeria.
In a statement on Saturday by her special assistant on media, Abdurrahman Balogun, the presidential aide said “this is one death, too many.” She said diplomatic talks between Nigeria and South Africa to put an early warning signal in place “doesn’t seem to be working”. Recall that the Nigeria Union in South Africa confirmed the killing of another member, Kingsley Ikeri, at Vryheid town in Kwazulu Natal Province of South Africa on August 30.
Ikeri, 27, a businessman and native of Mbaitolu in Imo State, is the second Imo indigene to be so killed in the last two weeks.
Reacting, Dabiri-Erewa described the latest extra judicial killing of another Nigerian in South Africa as “worrying and condemnable”.
She said that the latest gruesome killing of Ikeri by the Police in South Africa, is “unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria”.
While reiterating President Buhari’s calls to Nigerians to avoid crimes like drug peddling which attracts stiff penalties, sometimes death, she lamented that the latest incident has increased the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in one year.
“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.
“My heart goes out to the families of the deceased and pray God to grant the departed soul eternal rest”, the SSA prayed.
Dabiri-Erewa had in February during a meeting in Abuja with South Africa High Commissioner, Mr Lulu Louis Mnguni, said a total of 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in the last two years.
Seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the South African Police.