Port Harcourt – Nigerians resident in Gauteng Province
of South Africa have protested against the alleged extra-judicial
killing of a 34- year-old man, Timothy Chinedu, by the police.
Mr Mathew Okafor, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union in
Gauteng Province, said on phone from Johannesburg that Chinedu was
allegedly suffocated to death by the police after his arrest at 9.00
a.m. on Saturday.
Chinedu is a native of Isiala Mbano Local Government Area
of Imo. He claimed that another Nigerian, who witnessed the incident at
Kempton Park in Ekulurheni Municipality, Gauteng Province, saw the South
African police arrest the deceased, tie his hands and cover his face
with a cellophane bag. “
We suspect that Chinedu died of suffocation. “ That is why
Nigerians in the province mobilised and staged a protest against this
extra-judicial killing . “ The South African police is alleging that he
died after ingesting drugs but a Nigerian witnessed the entire incident
and reported it to us. “
The case has been handed over to the Independent Police
Investigative Directorate (IPID) that investigates police misconduct in
South Africa.
“ We have been given the contacts of key persons that we
need to be talking to as this investigation proceeds so that we can
monitor the development. “ An autopsy is being carried out and we are
waiting for the coroner’s report. “ We have also reported this incident
to the national body of Nigeria Union and Nigerian Mission in South
Africa.
“ We have also gotten the contacts of the relatives of the
deceased and we have duly informed them of the tragedy,“ Okafor said
The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene,
said the body had received the report of the incident.
“ We take exception to the continued torture of Nigerians
by the South African police. “ The union believes that there is the due
process to follow after a suspect is arrested instead of resorting to
torture,“ he said.
Anyene urged the Federal Government to intervene by
persuading the South African government to look into the continued
killings of Nigerians by the police. “ We also want to state that the
Nigerian did not die of drug ingestion as being alleged by the South
African police,“ he said. Nigeria`s Consul General to South Africa, Amb.
Uche Ajulu-Okeke, said that the mission had received the report of the
killing of the Nigerian. She said the mission would investigate the
incident and present a report to the Federal Government. Ajulu-Okeke,
however, appealed to Nigerians to remain law abiding and report any
incident to the union and the mission. (NAN)
Nigerians protest alleged extra-judicial killing by South African police
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