The House of Representatives have resolved to invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, the Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission and other stakeholders to jointly consider the causes of the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.
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The House also urged President Muhammadu to direct the Ministry of Health to assist the families of the bereaved in expediting the return of loved ones who have lost their lives in the unfortunate attacks.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House at a world press conference in response to Xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa on Friday said, the Green Chamber would not only determine the causes of latest attacks but also to assess and account for the loss of lives and properties that have occurred.
Gbajabiamila noted that such action will allow the government to more accurately demand reparations to compensate Nigerian citizens who suffered in this recent orgy of violence.
The Speaker announced that the House is ready to authorise legal funding for those citizens who wish to take legal action against identified perpetrators of the violence as well as those who sponsored them or permitted their actions to occur and to continue.
He assured that the House of will work with all the stakeholders within and outside government to evolve and implement a plan to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa and other unsafe places and as much as possible keep them out of harm’s way.
“We must accept that there are at this moment in time several forces converging in different parts of the world, creating seismic events over which we have limited control yet may not entirely escape the worst consequences of. We ought no longer to wait until our people are caught in the foulest manifestations of these events before we take necessary action to protect them.
“There have been reports that state actors may have participated in the worst acts of violence; sometimes actively, at other times by standing and doing nothing whilst murder and mayhem was unleashed.
“We expect that the Government of the Republic of South Africa will conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations and make public their findings whatever they may be. Where any of these claims are determined to be true, we expect also that the individuals responsible will be held accountable to the highest degree allowed by law”, Gbajabiamila insisted.
According to Gbajabiamila, leadership of the House commended the actions taken so far by President through the Minister of Foreign Affairs in communicating the government’s extreme displeasure at what has occurred and taking action for the return of Nigeria citizens who are willing to come home at this time.
While assuring Nigerians at home and abroad of the commitment of the House to stand for their interests at all the times, the Speaker said, “the House of Representatives is united and determined in its resolve to meet our people at the point of their grievance and to channel grievance into constructive action.
“Let no one be left in any doubt, we will seek, and we will obtain by whatever means available, due restoration and recompense for all that has been lost in this latest conflagration and all the ones that have come before.
“We are committed to a sustained and special effort to see that the ends of justice are met for all our people who have suffered. We have heard the cries of our citizens, and we have witnessed their devastation. We will mourn for the dead, and cry for the lost, but we will not stop there”.
Lamenting the incessant acts of murder on Nigerians in other countries, Gbajabiamila observed that, “today and too many a time, we are called to stand as pallbearers, bringing home to burial the bodies of our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, our children, savaged and decimated.
“What is their offence? That they dared to dream of glory and profit beyond our borders, and having dreamt, they endeavoured to make real the visions of their heart. We did not provoke, nor do we deserve the violence that has been visited on our people in South Africa.
“We reject entirely the obvious attempt to change the true narrative of events by casting the recently organised acts of violence as merely internecine conflict between gangs fighting for turf. Unless it is the position of South African government that all Nigerians living in South Africa are gangsters and criminals, we demand that they reject these claims without equivocation.
“The vile images of violent devastation and death randomly visited on innocent people seeking their way in the world, strikes at our heart, causing pain that words alone cannot express. Let no one add insult to our grief”.
