By Nelson Amaobi Osuala
09.04.2015, 03:31pm
It is with what seems like a sad countenance that i write this article.. As i cannot stop asking our South African brothers the same question that the biblical apostle Paul asked the Galatian Believers saying :
Who has bewitched you guys?
how is It that you seem to have forgotten in a hurry, the indelible imprints and landmarks of political statesmen like the Late President Nelson Mandella and others who served selflessly to ensure that apartheid and all other forms of social discriminations are eradicated in the South African Soil?
How is It that you guys with inclusion of your Government Agencies have decided to turn deaf ears to the cry of Nigerian immigrants who are seeking for justice against the xenophobic attacks they are facing at the moment in South Africa?
It is upon the above critical questions that i wish to inform my teeming and conscious readers about the plight of Nigerians In the South African diaspora.
A Nigerian based group in South Africa, the union president, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene has cried out for help from the Nigerian Government to stop xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in that country.
Anyene who was speaking from his base in Pretoria, South Africa, informed our correspondent that Nigerians have been consistently under attack for three(3) weeks now. In his words :
“The Nigerian Government should intervene with quick response to save our people from the attacks. They should prevail on the South African Government to stop such attacks against Nigerians ” .
He however reported regrettably, that It appears nothing is being done to stop the attacks and that Nigerians are worried sick about the situation.
He(Anyene) further posits that these recent attacks in Johannesburg for instance have left Nigerian shop owners and traders seriously injured by irrational attackers. And that, there are about, 800,000 Nigerians currently living in South Africa and these people have their lives hanging on a pendulum .
he contends and re-affirms that since Nigeria and South Africa signed diplomatic relations, South Africans have enjoyed the love and care of Nigeria and hence have never been attacked in Nigeria.
He urges that the South African Government and her citizens should extend to Nigerians the same hand of fellowship which most South African immigrants to Nigeria have since enjoyed.
Commenting on this sad situations we urge all stake holders like Ecowas, Government Agencies and the international community to convey a conference to Address and redress this discriminatory tendencies that have sprouted up in our world today with a mission to destroy our national unity.
We must address without bias these ethnocentric reactions, sentiments of colour , class and clan.Prejudice, racism, tribalism, nepotism, continentalism, westernism, Africanism and all other ‘ISMS’ that is bent on destabilising and annihilating our common good.
These are my submissions as they would help to ensure the reality of the concluding stanzas of our National Anthem which reads:
“.. The Labours Of Our Heroes past. Shall never be in vain…
To build a nation where peace and Justice Shall Reign”.
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