By Teddy Nwanunobi
Abuja (Sundiata Post) — Concerned by the resumption of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, which have seen Nigerians as the major casualties, the Senate, on Wednesday, named a very strong seven-man delegation, led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to South African parliament to speak on the attacks on Nigerians.
Making the announcement, which followed Tuesday’s resolution by the Senate to engage the South African parliament, the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, also named the Senate Majority Leader, Ahmad Lawan and senators Olusola Adeyeye, Stella Oduah, Shehu Sani, Shaaba Lafiagi and Magnus Abe as members of the delegation.
It would be recalled that the Senate on Tuesday, condemned in strong terms, the return of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
This is even as it described the action as extra-judicial killings of Nigerians by both the South African police and South Africans on Nigerians.
The Senate also advised the Federal Government to reconsider Nigeria’s diplomatic ties with South Africa with a view to averting the recurrent cases of xenophobic attacks and extra-judicial killings of Nigerians in South Africa.
The Senate had also resolved to send a delegation to South Africa to engage their fellow parliamentarians on the matter.
The resolutions of the Senate on Tuesday were sequel to a motion by SenatorRose Oko (PDP, Cross River North), and three other senators.
It was titled: ”Resurgence of Xenophobic Attacks and Extra-judicial Killings of Nigerians in South Africa”.
Oko, who expressed concerns over recurrent cases of xenophobic attacks and extra-judicial killings of Nigerians in South Africa, recalled that South Africans attacked and looted businesses belonging to Nigerians in Pretoria on February 18, 2017.
She pointing out that the acts violated Article 5 of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
“No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” she noted the provisions of the Article.
She has also recalled that 20 Nigerians were killed under similar circumstances over allegations of drug trafficking without a recourse to legal processes and the principle of fair hearing in 2016.