Even as tempers rise over the incessant slaughtering of Nigerians in South Africa, a Nigerian high school teenager, Chinonso Obiaju, 17 and a businessman Obinna Ayanele, was over the weekend shot dead in Johannesburg in separate incidents.
The latest killings bring to about 200, Nigerians killed in xenophobic attacks between 2016 and this year.
South Africa is home to about 800,000 Nigerians, mostly young people, according to unofficial records. Recall that Mrs Ndubisi-Chukwu, who was the Deputy Director-General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) was killed on June 13 in her hotel room in South Africa.
President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, who confirmed the killing of Chinonso Obiaju to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the deceased student lived in Roodepoort, Johannesburg with his guardian. Olubajo told NAN on the telephone that his guardian, Mike Nsofor, disclosed that he was shot at about 6.30pm. “He went to buy something from a shop with his friend and someone chased and opened fire on them, killing him,’’ he quoted The Guardian as saying.
He added that the family would be burying him in South Africa, noting that the union’s leaders in Johannesburg would be contacting him on developments. Olubajo said they were going to the police on Monday to finalise on the registry and provision of his papers. “He was born here I learnt and the mother is in the U.S. “I have spoken to Mike Nsofor to pass the Nigerian community’s condolences and call for justice to be served in this case as anybody who hunts down a young schoolboy couldn’t have any justifiable reasons,’’ Mr Olubajo said. He implored the federal government to urgently protect Nigerians in the Diaspora.
There are varying reports about the killing of Obinna Ayanele, the Nigerian businessman. ChannelsTV reports that he was murdered in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, allegedly by a group of eight policemen who interrogated him at his home over the weekend. The Television station reported that the matter has been handed to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate which has confirmed it is looking into the incident.
But according to online News medium, “Ayanele was murdered in cold blood by some criminals in his shop in Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, on Tuesday evening.” President of Nigerian Union South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, made the disclosure on Wednesday, adding that the victim, a 46-year-old man named Obinna Ayanele, hailed from Uruala, Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State.
He said Ayanele was murdered in cold blood by some criminals in his shop in Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, on Tuesday evening. The criminals had reportedly attacked Ayanele with the intention of robbing him of his money and wares. Olubajo said, “With deep sorrow in our hearts, the Nigeria Union South Africa regrets to announce the gruesome murder of another Nigerian, Stanley Ayanele, from Uruala, Ideato North LGA, Imo, aged 46. “Until his death, he was a small scale business owner, a stockist of petty goods. “Ayanele was accosted by some criminals at his shop in Krugersdorp, Johannesburg in the evening of August 20, 2019 with the intention of robbing him of his money and wares. News Express
Pix: Chinonso Obiaju
