News
The Nigerian Union in
South Africa on Thursday said that another Nigerian, Mr Uchenna Eloh, has been
killed in the Western Cape Province of that country.
Kanayo Onwumelu, Chairman,
Western Cape chapter of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on
telephone from Cape Town that Eloh was strangled to death by South African
policemen.
NAN reports that Eloh
hailed from Eziagu in Eziagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.
“We want to call the
attention of Nigerian Government to the senseless killing of innocent Nigerians
by the police in South Africa.
“At about 11.00 a.m. South
African time on Wednesday, a Nigerian, Uchenna Emmanuel Eloh, popularly known
as “Monkey’’, was killed by a South African police officer.
“He was walking out of his
house toward the bus station when a police van stopped to search him,
suspecting that he might be in possession of illegal substance.
“Three policemen accosted
Eloh, one of them, by the name Williams, held him on the neck suspecting that
he swallowed a substance, while another police officer held him by the legs,’’
he said.
The union official alleged
that the policemen dragged Eloh on the ground until he started foaming and
suffocated to death on the spot.
“This is not the first
time such senseless killing of innocent Nigerians was carried out by South
African police officers.
“We have reported similar
killings to the South African Government and Nigeria High Commission in South
Africa and nothing was done to bring the culprits to book.
“We want the Nigerian
Government to intervene to stop this brutality against innocent Nigerians and
stop killing Nigerians out of hatred, racism or xenophobia,’’ he said.
Ikechukwu Anyene,
President of Nigerian Union in South Africa, who also confirmed the incident,
called for an end to the incessant killing of Nigerians in South Africa.
“Our government needs to
do something urgently to make it clear that Nigerian lives matter.
“We have made suggestions
on what can be done, but it is now clear to us that the endless talks cannot
yield any positive result,’’ Anyene said.
He said that the union had
engaged a lawyer to take up the case against South African Police Service.
“But, this kind of legal
service should form part of consular services to provide legal services to
victimised Nigerians,’’ Anyene said.
The union said that the
police have opened an inquest into the case.
NAN recalls that the
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora,
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had in February said that a total 116 Nigerians have been
killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in the last two years.
The presidential aide had
said during a meeting with the South
African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Louis Mnguni in Abuja that nearly
seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the South African police.
Credit:
NAN
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