Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA) has condemned the alleged killing of a Nigerian man, Kingsley Ezeh, by South African Police.
Ezeh, who hails from Oduma, Aninri Local Government of Enugu, is survived by his wife and children.
The latest incident followed the similar death of another Nigerian, Stanley Igwe, in June 2021.Igwe, from Amandugba village in Isu Local Government Area of Imo, died in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa.
On Thursday, NICASA President, Benjamin Okoli told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that members of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) were taking laws into their hands.
Okoli said they invaded Ezeh’s Tyre shop in the late evening of January 4 and allegedly manhandled gim during interrogation.
The body accused the police of choking the victim after stopping him with an unmarked black-BMW vehicle with his brother earlier arrested at a different location.
The president noted that the mystery will be unravelled by police investigation as Ezeh’s shop is fitted with a CCTV camera.
He quoted the brother saying the security operatives choked the deceased for several minutes, asking him to vomit what they assumed he swallowed.
“Two other Nigerians in the area had allegedly accused the same group of Metro Police officers of attacking them only a few months ago using plastic bags to cover their heads and they almost died.
“Both Nigerians maintained that nothing was found on them at the time of the attack; the police stopped them while driving, after searching their cars and found nothing, and insisted on extorting them a certain amount.”
Okoli said when they refused to pay the bribe, the duo was attacked and almost died due to the plastic used to suffocate them by the officers who also allegedly stole their cell phones and cash.
“We are currently discussing with these two Nigerians, to see how we can add their case to this death as evidence of a pattern of attack by these groups of Metro Police against Nigerians.
“The Metro Police had claimed that the late Ezeh ingested a substance they suspected is narcotic when they came into his shop and they claimed he had suffocated by the substance he ingested.
“Paramedics were called to the shop where he was confirmed dead on the scene; the leadership of NICASA monitored the situation and ensured that protocols were followed to secure evidence,” he added.
Nigerians in South Africa declared that Ezeh’s death was yet another case of unnecessary and systemic xenophobia.
