The House of Representatives has called on Nigerians to remain calm
\ndespite the renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerian citizens resident in
\nSouth Africa.<\/p>\n
The Speaker of the House Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who said this
\nduring a world press conference on Friday in Abuja, said the House would
\nensure that compensation is paid and justice is done for Nigerians that
\nlost their lives and property during the attacks.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the world press conference, Speaker Gbajabiamila met
\nwith President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa over the
\nxenophobic attacks.<\/p>\n
Accompanied by the Deputy Speaker Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase and other
\nprincipal officers of the House to the press conference, Speaker
\nGbajabiamila said the South African government must probe the recent
\nattacks on Nigerians and make public findings of the probe.<\/p>\n
The House, the Speaker said, is ready to authorize legal funding for
\nNigerians who wish to take legal action against identified perpetrators
\nof the violence and their sponsors.<\/p>\n
“Nigerians have long traveled far and wide in search of knowledge, of
\nexperience and prosperity. As we have traveled, we have opened also our
\nborders to those who will seek their greener pastures here. In Africa,
\nwe have demonstrated our commitment to the brotherhood of nations,
\nsacrificing life, labour and wealth to achieve peace and restore freedom
\nfrom Sierra Leone to Liberia, Sao Tome to South Africa. We have sought
\nnothing in return, we have made no claims to the land and resources of
\nour brothers. Our commitment has always has been to the advancement of
\nAfrica, to freedom in all our lands and prosperity for all our peoples.<\/p>\n
“Yet today and too many a time, we are called to stand as pallbearers,
\nbringing home to burial the bodies of our brothers and sisters, fathers
\nand mothers, our children, savaged and decimated. What is their offence?
\nThat they dared to dream of glory and profit beyond our borders, and
\nhaving dreamt, they endeavoured to make real the visions of their
\nhearts. We did not provoke, nor do we deserve the violence that has been
\nvisited on our people in South Africa.<\/p>\n
“We reject entirely the obvious attempt to change the true narrative of
\nevents by casting the recently organised acts of violence as a merely
\ninternecine conflict between gangs fighting for turf. Unless it is the
\nposition of South African government that all Nigerians living in South
\nAfrica are gangsters and criminals, we demand that they reject these
\nclaims without equivocation. The vile images of violent devastation and
\ndeath randomly visited on innocent people seeking their way in the
\nworld, strikes at our heart, causing pain that words alone cannot
\nexpress. Let no one add insult to our grief.<\/p>\n
“To every citizen of Nigeria in every city and every state who has
\nwatched recent events with rising anger and pain, we in the House of
\nRepresentatives, are with you. To those who are sorely tempted to
\nrespond to these latest incidents with violence on our streets and
\ndestruction in our communities, I call on you to resist all such
\ntemptation. Your anger is justified, your pain is rightly felt but we
\ncannot honour the memory of our fallen citizens by setting our streets
\naflame and our houses asunder.<\/p>\n
“We will achieve nothing by destroying businesses that employ our people
\nand provide a living for our families. We will honour the lives of our
\nfallen brothers by making sure that never again will our citizens’
\ninalienable right to life and liberty be so wantonly denied here at home
\nor anywhere else in the world. We will honour the sacrifice of the
\nfallen by devoting ourselves once more to a covenant of service to one
\nanother, certain in the knowledge that our greatest protection against
\nsuch harms, is peace, progress and prosperity in the homeland,” the
\nSpeaker said.<\/p>\n
The House commended the actions taken so far by President Muhammadu
\nBuhari in communicating the government’s “extreme displeasure at what
\nhas occurred and taking action to see to the return of those of our
\ncitizens who are willing to come home at this time.<\/p>\n
“We will further ask that the President direct the Ministry of Health to
\nassist the families of the bereaved in expediting the return of loved
\nones who have lost their lives in these unfortunate events.<\/p>\n
The Speaker also said that the House would invite the Minister of
\nForeign Affairs, the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, the
\nchairman of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission and other stakeholders to
\nascertain the real causes of the attacks.<\/p>\n
“We intend not only to determine the causes of these latest events but
\nalso to assess and account for the losses in life and property that have
\noccurred. This will allow the government to more accurately demand
\nreparations to compensate our citizens who suffered in this recent orgy
\nof violence.<\/p>\n
“Let no one be left in any doubt, we will seek, and we will obtain by
\nwhatever means available, due restoration and recompense for all that
\nhas been lost in this latest conflagration and all the ones that have
\ncome before. We are committed to a sustained and special effort to see
\nthat the ends of justice are met for all our people who have suffered.
\nWe have heard the cries of our citizens, and we have witnessed their
\ndevastation. We will mourn for the dead, and cry for the lost, but we
\nwill not stop there.”<\/p>\n
“The House of Representatives is ready to authorise legal funding for
\nthose citizens who wish to take legal action against identified
\nperpetrators of the violence as well as those who sponsored them or
\npermitted their actions to occur and to continue.<\/p>\n
“We recognise that there are many places in the world right now where
\ninternal crises and conflicts have made the terrain unsafe for our
\ncitizens there. The House of Representatives will work with all the
\nstakeholders within and outside the government to evolve and implement a
\nplan to evacuate our people from these places and as much as possible
\nkeep them out of harm’s way.<\/p>\n
“We must accept that there are at this moment in time several forces
\nconverging in different parts of the world, creating seismic events over
\nwhich we have limited control yet may not entirely escape the worst
\nconsequences of. We ought no longer to wait until our people are caught
\nin the foulest manifestations of these events before we take necessary
\naction to protect them.<\/p>\n
“There have been reports that state actors may have participated in the
\nworst acts of violence; sometimes actively, at other times by standing
\nand doing nothing whilst murder and mayhem was unleashed. We expect that
\nthe Government of the Republic of South Africa will conduct a thorough
\ninvestigation into these allegations and make public their findings
\nwhatever they may be. Where any of these claims are determined to be
\ntrue, we expect also that the individuals responsible will be held
\naccountable to the highest degree allowed by law.”<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives has called on Nigerians to remain calm despite the renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerian citizens resident in South Africa. The Speaker of the House Rt. Hon.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n