Ben Okoli, President, Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA), has narrated how Ebuka Udugbo, a Nigerian citizen, was killed by South African police.<\/p>\n
[Image: Police, S\/African police, Nigerian] POLICE OFFICERS
\nOkoli spoke in a letter to the consul general, Nigerian consulate, Johannesburg, South Africa, a copy of which was obtained by NAN in Abuja.<\/p>\n
He explained that Udugbo was arrested by South African police over a quarrel with Linda, his girlfriend, on April 28, and later pronounced dead by the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe information we got initially was that he committed suicide while in the South African Police custody in Cape Town. We conducted our own preliminary investigation over the circumstances surrounding his death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we discovered was really shocking and disheartening from our findings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe late Udugbo had a quarrel with his girlfriend and left the house at about 9 a.m on April 28 to avoid further altercation with his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
According to him, the girlfriend called the police and along with the officers they had gone out in search of Udugbo. He was later found by the police while he was driving on the road in town.<\/p>\n
He said that Udugbo\u2019s vehicle was stopped, and he was arrested and handcuffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police took his car keys, left the car by the way and drove with him back to his house in the Police car along with the girlfriend,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was severely beaten by the cops in his house and he fainted. At this point the landlord\u2019s son feared and told the Police to take him to the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police refused, and instead they took him to the Police Station where they claimed that he had allegedly committed suicide.<\/p>\n
According to him, past 10am, one of Udugbo\u2019s relatives went to the station and was told that Udugbo had committed suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not accept this police story, we believed that he was killed right in the Police Station and hanged afterwards,\u201d read the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis case was that of domestic violence, and does not warrant the Police to beat him since he did not in any way resist arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that all circumstances surrounding his death was a clear indication of bias, hate, xenophobia and premeditated action and police high handedness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believed that the late Udugbo was killed and to cover it up the Police hanged him to make it look like suicide,\u201d Okoli said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police cell is not a place for anybody to commit suicide. It is meant to be a place of safety and protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe South African Police service had considered Nigerians as inconsequential and unimportant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ben Okoli, President, Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA), has narrated how Ebuka Udugbo, a Nigerian citizen, was killed by South African police. [Image: Police, S\/African police, Nigerian] POLICE OFFICERS Okoli spoke in a letter to the consul general, Nigerian consulate, Johannesburg, South Africa, a copy of which was obtained by NAN in Abuja. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[136,165,556,642],"class_list":["post-9642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-death","tag-police","tag-south-africa","tag-xenophobia"],"yoast_head":"\n