South Africa deports 47 citizens

The friendship that existed between Nigeria and South Africa seems to have been thawed as the country which has remained a major trading partner and regional ally deported 47 Nigerians yesterday.

According to Nigeria Immigration Service sources, the deportees made up of 46 males and one female were disembarked at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from a chartered flight from Johannesburg.

After waiting for sometime, the deportees were allowed to leave the airport to their homes or other destinations within Nigeria. Some of the deportees who spoke with newsmen said the South African Authority has become antagonistic to Africans residing in that country and became very hostile with a regime of clampdowns and harassment.

The South Africa Authority they said was more hostile to African immigrants from Nigeria. The deportees noted that this attitude took a more aggressive tone immediately after the World Cup tournament, which was the first to be hosted by any African country.

"South Africans have always been hostile to Africans that live in their country while they fear the white people. It is worse with us Nigerians who they believe take their jobs away, so they have been harassing us for many years now and after the World Cup they started harassing us again and now they have deported us. I left everything I have laboured for years there," one of the deportees who refused to give his name said.

The deportee also said that they were treated like common criminals.

Two weeks ago there was report that a young Nigerian lady that lived and was studying in South Africa and returned to Nigeria to attend a wedding.

As she landed in Johannesburg she was stopped by Immigration at the airport and put on the next plane back to Nigeria.

The lady cried through the six hours flight to Lagos because she was a medical student in one of the universities in South Africa and she was to start her exams in the next two days before she was forced back to Nigeria.

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Swiss explain asylum seeker death to Nigeria

The Federal Migration Office head has returned from a trip to Nigeria where he explained to officials how a Nigeria died while being deported.

Alard du Bois-Reymond expressed regret to the Nigerian foreign minister over the death and relayed details of an autopsy that found the 29-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker had died of a heart attack while at Zurich airport last year.

The victim was suffering from a serious heart condition that had not been diagnosed. The heart attack was probably brought on by the fact that the man had been on hunger strike and was in a stressed state at the time.

The Nigerian, a convicted drug dealer, had refused to leave the country and had been forcibly restrained while boarding a deportation flight.

Du Bois-Reymond said the meeting, which also included Swiss foreign ministry representatives, had given closure to the affair and re-established “mutual trust” between the two countries.

He also proposed that Nigerian representatives be present on special deportation flights from Switzerland to defuse tensions that may arise. Deportation flights were halted following the death but have since resumed to all countries besides Nigeria. These too are expected to start again this month.

The trip was also a chance for the Swiss to discuss closer cooperation with Nigeria in dealing with the problem of migration. A Nigerian delegation is due to visit Switzerland in October to continue discussions on the issue. 

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Ten killed in fresh Jos attacks

The tentative peace recently achieved in Jos, Plateau State, has again been put asunder by violence that erupted yesterday morning in Mazah village, Jos North Local Government Area. The attack left at least 10 people dead and several others injured, the Plateau State Government has said.

"The attack is nothing unusual; it is just another attempt to destroy the peace Plateau people have been enjoying in the past months," the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Gregory Yenlong said.

He said that those injured were being treated at the Plateau Specialist Hospital.

"It is an embarrassing situation. Just when we thought we had found peace, we suddenly have to cope with another ugly situation," he said.

The Commissioner, who appealed to the people to remain calm, and not to take the law into their hands, called for more vigilance from the military Special Task Force (STF) to prevent a recurrence.

A number of houses were also burnt, while others, including the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) located in the village were vandalised. But this time, the natives of the village are not the Beroms as in the previous attacks, but the Anagutas.

"We are just coming out of the village; it is a difficult terrain really. There isn't much to say. This incident is just sad," Lt.-Col. Kingsley Umoh, spokesman for the Military Special Task Force (STF) charged with maintaining peace in Jos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Plateau State Police Commissioner Gregory Anyating told Reuters the authorities were trying to find out "the root causes of the violence", but it had not spread to other villages."

The incident, which occurred at about 1:30 am, according to sources, claimed the life of the father of the councilor of the Mazah ward, Hon. Kankani Jaja. The Pastor of the COCIN, Rev. Nuhu Dawat, also lost his wife, two children, and a grandson.

Narrating his experience, Dawat said "It was at about 1:30 am when I heard a knock on my door. I went and opened the door but did not see anybody, so I went back into the house. A few minutes later we started hearing sporadic gun shots. It was then I escaped into the farmland near my house, but my family was not fortunate enough to escape too. My wife, daughter, son and grandson have all been killed".

Another resident of the village, Mr Gaya Suna, who narrated his ordeal said the attackers came with such a bright torchlight that they could locate where their victims hid. He was however able to escape with his wife but his daughter was killed. He said "People were sleeping when we heard some movement. We cannot say exactly why they came to attack us".

The Community leader of Mazah, Mr Abamu Kaiwa, who spoke with THISDAY said "This incident occured between 1 and 2am, they came in with some weapons and attacked some targeted houses. The personal house and family house of the Councilor representing Mazah ward in the Council, Hon. Kankani Jaja, were burnt, his father and son killed".

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