Nigerians in South Africa feel increasingly abandoned to their fate as the spate of xenophobic killings continues.
As at May this year, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had on a visit to South Africa’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Lulu Mnguni, declared that 116 Nigerians were killed in the past two years.
Curiously, 63 percent of these killings were carried out by the South African Police. Since then, the figure has climbed with the killing of two more Nigerians recently. While South Africans and their brutal police officers often claim the killings are linked to the alleged criminal activities of the victims, President Buhari’s Adviser, Professor Itse Sagay ascribes the targeting of Nigerians to “envy killings” due to the enterprising ability of our citizens living in South Africa.
South Africa Xenophobic attacks on Nigeria The xenophobia factor appears to hold a lot of water because if it was merely a question of crime, the Police should enforce the law rather than take the law into their hands by being at the vanguard of the killings. Besides, South Africa is already topping among the countries that regularly deport Nigerians. What credible excuse can there be for these killings which usually go unpunished?