Posted by By BASHIR UMAR, Abuja on
Convinced that the violent attacks being meted out to foreigner living in South Africa are no longer controllable, the Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to issue security alert to Nigerians intending to travel to the Republic of South Africa to give a break because the attacks 'are mainly on citizens of this country by the hoodlums".
Convinced that the violent attacks being meted out to foreigner living in South Africa are no longer controllable, the Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to issue security alert to Nigerians intending to travel to the Republic of South Africa to give a break because the attacks 'are mainly on citizens of this country by the hoodlums".
This is coming on the heels of reported cases of armed robbery and attacks targeted at Nigerians in South Africa in recent times, which was confirmed by a team of senators who visited that country recently.
Moving a motion to that effect on behalf of nine other senators, Senator Grace Bent said: 'The Senate notes with serious concern the protracted and unabated intimidation, brutalization and cases of robbery and sundry attacks on innocent Nigerians, both high and low, in South Africa."
She said: 'The South African immigration, amongst others, are being alleged of complicity in such robberies that have taken a familiar trend. Worst still, Nigerians are being painted as criminals, fraudsters, etc, forgetting that a sizeable percentage of Nigerians go about their business legitimately."
According to Bent, 'The South African government is so far unable to bring the situation under control as their Minister of Interior and Security announced on air, ordering the police to ‘shoot the bastards' referring to the South African armed robbers. This is evident to an extent that the South African government is getting helpless about the situation."
Seconding the motion, Senator Umaru Dahiru said the matter calls for urgent concern because it appeared hopeless.
Senator Dahiru, who was part of a recent official trip by senators to South Africa, said: 'It was more worrisome because the hoodlums identified us by our national dress and this incidence occurred less than two hours from our arrival. Their method is to trail their victims from Oliver Thambo International Airport, Johannesburg to their destinations and then rob them violently."
But the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, advised his colleagues against a sweeping condemnation of the South African government, saying that 'cases of criminality can be found everywhere. It has not been established here that there was a conscious effort by the South African government to unleash armed robbers on citizens of our country, so we should be cautious in our comments so that we don't strain relationship between two friendly countries."
In his comments, Senate President, David Mark, said the issue in South Africa called for concern and seems to be beyond the authority of the government. He, however, said: 'The aim of the motion was not to castigate the South African government."
Senator George Anthony Manzo reminded his colleagues that Nigeria's first duty is to protect its citizens and alert them on the situation in South Africa.
'Normally, when this kind of things happen, the consular in that country should approach the home government to try and find a solution to it. Besides, I advise that we issue a travel alert to all our citizens going to that country to take adequate security measures," he added.
At the end of the debate, the Senate directed its committee on Foreign Affairs to obtain more information on the development and report back to it in two weeks.