The National Association of Nigerian Students in Benue State, took to the streets on Thursday morning with an agenda to get the attention of the Federal government and the African Union.
In sending a serious message, the students locked up the offices of some companies linked to South Africa operating in Makurdi. The students marched to the MTN and DSTV offices as well as the Shoprite mall, Rhapsodys, Newscafe, Pizza hut, Vodacom, Telkom, KFC, Standard Bank in the state capital and shut them down.
The protest was led by the zonal deputy national coordinator of the association, Owoicho Aba.
Aba, who decried the killing of Nigerians in South Africa, noted that the students would not allow South African businesses to run in Nigeria.
The killings of Nigerian Migrants in South Africa needs the urgent intervention of the Nigerian government. No need to wait till another top executive is killed in South Africa. Let’s protect the dignity of human life @NGRSenate @amnesty @AfricanUnionUN @GovernmentZA @TheNcrib
— David Aladegbaiye Patricks (@Nativeworx) July 27, 2019
According to him, if Nigerian businesses cannot enjoy the peace and support that South African businesses enjoy from the Federal Government, the only reasonable thing would be to close down all South African businesses in the country.
According to the International Relations spokesperson in Nigeria, there are over 282,156 Nigerians in South Africa and the federal government is trying everything to ensure a formal registration in order to protect these citizens. She, however, stressed about how happy she was that the Nigerian populace did not replicate the same acts as South African citizens and attacked the over 52,432 south Africans living in Nigeria.
Aba stated, “It is very painful to see that the citizens of a country, which supported South Africa in the attainment of freedom are being massacred. Nigeria fought hard to stop apartheid and now, the South Africans are paying us back with evil. We are welcoming caskets of dead Nigerians, on a monthly basis of about 45-50 deceased and people are not concerned.
The biggest of the recent killing is the case of Ndubuisi-Chukwwu who was the deputy director-general of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria. She was in South Africa to attend an African Insurance Organisation conference and was found dead in her hotel room in Johannesburg on 13 June.
“We will not allow any South African business to thrive until a concrete arrangement is put in place to guarantee the safety of Nigerians in South Africa. We want to draw the attention of the international community to the dastardly act of killing Nigerians in South Africa.”
An MTN manager, Vera Obe, who spoke with the students, expressed the organization’s concern over the killing of Nigerians in South Africa. She assured the students that actions were being taken to nip the ugly incident in the bud.
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