Bitter about the arrest of 42 Nigerians in Mozambique without any offence levelled against them, the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has condemned the arrest and demanded their immediate release.
In a statement in Abuja signed by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the NIDCOM boss said it was distasteful to learn that only Nigerians were allegedly handpicked for arrest.
She said that if they run afoul of the law, the authorities should arraign and charge them before a court.
She said the reported sudden and specific roundup of only Nigerians implied a xenophobic attack on Nigerian citizens.
Dabiri-Erewa, therefore, urged the Mozambican authorities to immediately release the arrested Nigerians or let the law take its course.
According to reports, the Nigerians were specifically singled out and arrested at a spare parts market, out of all the traders and individuals present in the market, without any allegations or explanations on why they were detained.
The Nigerians arrested have been confirmed to be legal residents, and the Attorney General is reportedly not aware of any charges against them.
Similarly, the Continental Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Africa, Prof. Jude Osakwe, has issued a strong condemnation following the arrest and detention of 42 Nigerian nationals by the Mozambican authorities.
Osakwe described the incident as deeply troubling, raising serious concerns about the motivations behind the targeted roundup and suggesting that it may carry the hallmarks of a xenophobic attack against Nigerian citizens.
“The suspicious thing is that only Nigerians were arrested since last week, and up until now, no one has been informed of the reason for their detention,” Osakwe stated, underscoring the lack of transparency on the part of Mozambican authorities.
He warned that the organisation would not accept silence from either Mozambican officials or Nigerian diplomatic representatives. He issued a formal demand to the Mozambican authorities to provide a full and credible explanation for the arrests, insisting that the Nigerian community abroad deserved to know on what legal grounds the detentions were made and what charges, if any, were being levelled against those arrested.
Osakwe also flayed the Nigerian Embassy in Mozambique, rebuking it over what he described as a pattern of inaction in the face of threats to Nigerians living abroad.
He drew a parallel with a separate, unresolved incident involving Nigerians in Mauritius, expressing deep frustration that the Embassy had yet to take any meaningful steps to address that situation either.
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