The Senate has condemned the incessant xenophobic attacks and extra-judicial killings of Nigerians by South Africans and further resolved to send a delegation to the parliament of South Africa to express its displeasure over the incident. Moving the motion at the plenary session of Tuesday, February 28th, 2017, Sen. Rose Oko (PDP: Cross River North) expressed concern over the recent attacks on Nigerians in Pretoria West despite Nigeria’s remarkable contributions to the liberation of South Africa from the devastation of apartheid.
According to Sen. Oko, the attacks violates Article 5 of the United Nation Declaration on Human Rights which provides that “No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” ; Article 4 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights which states that “Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person and that no one may be arbitrarily deprived of this rights”; and Sections 11 and 35 of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which provides that “Everyone arrested for allegedly committing an offence has the right to be brought before a court as soon as reasonably possible but not later than 48 hours after arrest”.
In addition, she stated that the extra-judicial killings and xenophobic attacks are not only against the principle and intent of international, regional and state statutes, but have the potential to weaken the diplomatic ties between Nigeria and South Africans if urgent measures are not taken to stem it.
The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki (APC: Kwara) also expressed his disapproval of the incident and commended Nigerians for refraining from initiating similar attacks on the businesses of South Africans in the country.
