Lawmakers Protest Over The Killing Of Nigerian In India

Members of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, protested the killing of a Nigerian, Obodo Simeon, by a suspected drug cartel in India. five others were reportedly injured in the attack, which took place on October 31. the lawmakers also asked the committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to investigate the reported incarceration of another 53 Nigerians by the authorities in that country.

The Nigerian was said to have been murdered in the Goa Region of India.

The resolution followed a motion moved by a member from Kogi State, Mr. Tajudeen Suleiman, who raised the alarm that Nigeria/India relations could be affected if the matter was allowed to go without any serious reaction from Nigeria.

To make matters worse, he said, 53 other Nigerians were arrested and detained for protesting the killing of one of them.

“The Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, further issued directive to the police to commence clampdown and possible deportation of Nigerians in the resort state of India,” Suleiman told the House.

Describing the development as ‘inhuman’, Suleiman also told the House that the minister allegedly supported a plan by villagers in Goa to embark on a racist campaign against the over 50,000 Nigerians resident in the region.

The Federal Government had on Monday, demanded an unreserved apology from India over the death of  Simeon.

 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, made this known while answering questions from journalists at the Pre-Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting press briefing in Abuja.

 Since Simeon was found dead in Goa, a popular tourist destination in the country’s West, there had been tension between Nigerians and Indians in the area.

 Simeon, according to reports, was stabbed to death on October 31 in Panaji, capital of Goa.

About 200 angry members of the Nigerian community were said to have blocked a highway while the body was being taken for post-mortem examination.