Ben Okoli, president, Nigerian
Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA), has raised alarm over the
circumstances surrounding the death of Ebuka Udugbo, a Nigerian citizen,
allegedly killed by South African police.
Okoli conveyed this message in a
letter to the consul general, Nigerian consulate, Johannesburg, South Africa, a
copy of which was obtained by NAN in Abuja on Friday.
He explained that Udugbo was
arrested by South African police over a quarrel with Linda, his girlfriend, on
April 28, and later pronounced dead by the police.
“The information we got initially
was that he committed suicide while in the South African Police custody in Cape
Town. We conducted our own preliminary investigation over the circumstances
surrounding his death,” he said.
“What we discovered was really
shocking and disheartening from our findings.
“The late Udugbo had a quarrel
with his girlfriend and left the house at about 9 a.m on April 28 to avoid
further altercation with his girlfriend.
According to him, the girlfriend
called the police and along with the officers they had gone out in search of
Udugbo. He was later found by the police while he was driving on the road in
town.
He said that Udugbo’s vehicle was
stopped, and he was arrested and handcuffed.
“The police took his car keys,
left the car by the way and drove with him back to his house in the Police car
along with the girlfriend,” he added.
“He was severely beaten by the
cops in his house and he fainted. At this point the landlord’s son feared and
told the Police to take him to the hospital.
“The police refused, and instead
they took him to the Police Station where they claimed that he had allegedly
committed suicide.
According to him, past 10am, one
of Udugbo’s relatives went to the station and was told that Udugbo had
committed suicide.
“We do not accept this police
story, we believed that he was killed right in the Police Station and hanged
afterwards,” read the letter.
“His case was that of domestic
violence, and does not warrant the Police to beat him since he did not in any
way resist arrest.”
He said that all circumstances
surrounding his death was a clear indication of bias, hate, xenophobia and
premeditated action and police high handedness.
“We believed that the late Udugbo
was killed and to cover it up the Police hanged him to make it look like
suicide,” Okoli said.
“The police cell is not a place
for anybody to commit suicide. It is meant to be a place of safety and
protection.
“The South African Police service
had considered Nigerians as inconsequential and unimportant.
“They tend to always get away
with it because they had been allowed to go free in numerous murder cases where
they had killed Nigerians.
“NICASA shall protest this
unnecessary police brutality, bias, death in police custody, xenophobia and
high handedness against our nationals.”
The death toll of Nigerians
killed in South Africa has continued to rise, with more than 120 lives lost
since 2016.
Udugbo’s death comes barely a
week after Tony Elochukwu, another Nigerian from Nnobi, Anambra state, was
killed by an unidentified gunman in South Africa.
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