Nigerians In South Africa Demand Release Of Sowore, Others

Some Nigerian residing in South Africa one Wednesday protested the arrest of a former presidential candidate in the 2019 elections, Omoyele Sowore and other members of the Revolution Now protest who were arrested by State Security Service, Channels Television reports.

The group under the auspices of ‘Take It Back’ took to the nation’s High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital on Wednesday demanding among other things, a better governed Nigeria, better security, safety for Nigerians in the diaspora.

The aggrieved protesters who were initially received by a senior official in the embassy insisted on seeing the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Kabir Bala.

According to the group’s Coordinator, Doris Ikeri-Solarin, members are not happy with happenings in the country, urging the envoy to relay the message to the Federal Government.

“As Nigerians resident in South Africa, we are moved to come to you as our father and representative here to pass our message across a back home that we are bitter and not happy with the situation that is going home in Nigeria.

“On a final note sir, we demand that the Federal Government releases Omoyele Sowore and our comrades,” he said.

While renewing the group’s commitment to supporting the South African laws, Ikeri-Solarin asked the government to investigate every crime that is committed on this land.

“Any individual who is found wanting must face the law. We are standing in support of the South African Government that it must investigate every crime that is committed on this land. And we are ready to support every judgment passed whoever is at fault,” she said.

After listening to the protesters, Ambassador Bala who wore a grey suit with a striped pink to match encouraged them to be law-abiding at all times.

The Ambassador renewed the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing their issues raised, stressing that there is a need to be patient and cooperative.

“There is no way the government will achieve its own objectives of making your life, my life and the lives of future generations better if we don’t cooperate and also do it peacefully, cogently and to put forward what it is for us.

“Yes, what you have given me, I have taken and I will also pass it unto them. We will not want the South Africans to go to Nigeria and violate our laws. We will not accept that.

“As much as reciprocity is the foundation of diplomacy, we will also not accept a situation where a Nigerian will violate the laws of South Africa.” He said.

The protest comes four days after the Department of State Service (DSS) arrested Sowore, an activist and publisher of online news platform SaharaReporters.

…CTV