We are the Nigerian Diaspora Forum, a Non-Governmental Organization founded by a group of Nigerians in the Diaspora with the primary aim of bettering the socio-economic lives of Nigerians in the Diaspora and in Nigeria.
We are having this media briefing over the unlawful killing of late Mr. Ebuka Nwoko, a Nigerian aged 43, who was manhandled, brutalized, and killed in Danielskuil, Northern Cape, by the South African Police in the morning hours of May 17th, 2024.
The Nigeria Diaspora Forum upon receiving the disheartening report on that fateful day from our team in South Africa, we swag into action as we did the first press release the next day in Nigeria, and on the 21st May 2024 we wrote a petition to the National Assembly address to the Honourable Speaker, Minister Foreign Affairs and the Chairman Nigerians in Diaspora Commission NiDCOM.
We believe the core duty of the police across the world is the protection of lives and properties, but the incidences of unlawful torture and killings of Nigerians by the South African Police have sadly become a recurring event, as can be seen in the unlawful killings of Mr. Izuwa Nad, Mr. Pius Ezekwem and Uchenna Eloh and now the recent one Mr. Ebuka Nwoko.
The South African Police have persistently been accused by eyewitnesses of ill-treatment and unlawful killings which have sometimes been done in the full glare of the public with very little deterrent. This ill-treatment of Nigerians in South Africa has been ongoing for several years, and it is unfortunate that successive South African Governments have done little to protect the lives and properties of Nigerans living in South Africa.
The frequency of these often tragic South African Police attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa have reached a crescendo and the Nigeria Diaspora Forum NDF is calling on Nigerian Government to call upon the South African Government and its Police Force to please put an end to these incidents before they generate into a “hunt and kill” exercise.
The NDF by this media briefing, we are calling upon the South African Ambassador to Nigeria to explain to Nigerians why these incidents keep occurring, and we are also calling for a prompt, transparent, and exhaustive investigation into this unlawful killing of Mr. Ebuka Nwoko by the South African Police.
The NDF is also putting the South African Authorities on notice as we demand a holistic and far-reaching addressing of the problem of recurring tortures and unlawful killings of Nigerians living in South Africa. The South African authorities must redeem their image and reputation and exonerate themselves from the rising suspicions of complicity in these serial injustices by serving justice. Appropriate compensation as stipulated by the relevant International Charters and local laws should also be awarded to the deceased family.
I want to use this opportunity to commend the Chairman House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Sir, Tochukwu Okere who swiftly acted on our petition and moved a motion in the floor of the House Representatives to investigate this unlawful killing of Mr Ebuka Nwoko.
We believe the Nigerian Government will leave no stone unturned until Justice is served on this matter.
Let me also use this opportunity to ask Nigerians all over the World to join NDF and feel free to express whatever challenges they face in Diaspora.
Thank you.
Hon. Chike Amadichi
Country Director,
Nigeria Diaspora Forum (NDF)
