Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt
The Ijaw Youth Council has threatened to mobilise Nigerian youths for a nationwide protest if there is no end to the killing of Nigerians in South Africa.
IYC President, Mr. Eric Omare, described as unfortunate and condemnable the continued murder of Nigerians doing business in South Africa.
He added that the Federal Government should go beyond condemning the act and ask its South African counterpart to protect the lives of Nigerians in the former apartheid enclave.
Omare, who issued this threat in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday, cautioned that a protest against the killing of Nigerians by South Africans could degenerate into something unpleasant.
He urged South Africans, whose pastime had become attacking and killing innocent Nigerians in South Africa, not to forget how the West African country sacrificed a lot to fight apartheid for them (South Africans) to gain freedom.
The IYC president said, “If the situation (killing of Nigerians in South Africa) continues, we will mobilise Nigerian youths for a massive protest; and when this happens, I cannot tell you what will happen because it can degenerate to something else.
“The killing of Nigerians in South Africa is a very pathetic situation; it is quite unfortunate and highly condemnable. If the killings continue, it will not only worsen the diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and South Africa; it can also affect South African investments in Nigeria.
“We cannot allow South Africans to be killing Nigerians on the excuse that Nigerians are taking their jobs. But South Africans have investments here; Nigerians have never attacked their investments in Nigeria.
“Again, the Nigerian government needs to go beyond condemnation and call on the government of South Africa to stop the killing of Nigerians in that country. At the diplomatic level, the South African government has a responsibility to protect the lives and property of Nigerians there.
Also, the National Coordinator of the Niger Delta Youth Parliament, Mr. Imoh Okoko, told our correspondent in a separate interview that his group would mobilise all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to protest what he described as the senseless murder of innocent Nigerians in South Africa.
Okoko, however, urged the Nigerian Government to stop the exodus of Nigerian youths to South Africa and other countries by providing employment opportunities for them.
He pointed out that no country could develop to its potential without the strength of the youths, adding that the Nigerian system was sidelining the youths from taking part in national growth.
Okoko said, “We will also mobilise ethnic nationalities in Nigeria because the killing is becoming too much. Nigerians living in South Africa are not safe and the Nigerian Government appears not to be doing something about it.”
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