The situation following the murder of a Nigerian national last week in Goa and the subsequent to protests by his fellow countrymen there took a serious turn on Tuesday with Nigeria issuing a note verbale to India demanding the immediate arrest of the killers.
While Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said the murder was the result of a gang war in drug trade, Nigerian consular attaché Jacob Nwadadia warned retaliation against Indians in the African country if the Goa police did not stop evicting his citizens from Goa.
The sharp reaction from the Nigerian diplomat came on Monday following the incident where a Nigerian was found dead with stab wounds in Mapusa near Panaji. More than protesting 200 Nigerians blocked a road on the city outskirts last week and clashed with the police and locals.
This led the Goa Government to order a crackdown on all foreigners living unauthorisedly there after the clash between the Nigerians and the police. In an effort to pacify the agitated Nigerian Government, New Delhi assured that all issues will be addressed in a co-operative manner.
This assurance came from Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry’s western African division who spoke to the Nigerian High Commissioner here and said both the countries share excellent relations.
Justifying the need for issuing a note verbale, Tokunbo Falohun, Minister-Press on the Nigerian High Commission here said “we have lost one of our nationals in a cold-blooded murder. We have raised the issue with India and written a note verbale to convey our concerns over the security of our nationals.”
He also said “the guilty should be immediately apprehended and brought to justice. And they should also compensate the family of the victim,” adding the High Commissioner has received a call from the External Affairs Ministry regarding the matter.
Asked if there will be any “repercussion” of the incident as indicated by Nwadadia recently in Panaji, Falohun said if the matter was “justifiably” dealt with, there will be no repercussions.
“There is a large Indian community working in Nigeria. There are two temples in lagos and all Indians have freedom to worship and for their other activities. We also are demanding the same,” he said.
His assurance came following Nwadadia’s warning that thousands of Indians in his country will be “thrown out on the streets” if police does not stop evicting Nigerians from their rented homes in Goa.
Issuing this warning after meeting members of the Nigerian community in Goa, bureaucrats and police officials, the Consular Attache said the Goa Government had until nine pm on Monday to stop the illegal eviction process.
“There are only 50,000 Nigerians living in India but there are over one million Indians living in Nigeria. Thousands of Indians living there will be thrown out on the streets if forcible eviction of Nigerians in Goa does not stop,” Jacob said. The official said Nigeria was five hours behind Indian Standard Time and that there would be time for the Nigerian government to order action against Indians living there.
Parrikar claimed that the murder was a result of a war between two narcotics gangs, while the Nigerians said their fellow national was murdered by the local drug mafia which had the sympathies of
a Minister.
Jacob said the police was going from home to home in places where Nigerians resided and forcibly evicting and “there is no rule of law.” He also said a resolution passed by a local panchayat headed by the wife of a BJP legislator banning Nigerians from the village should be withdrawn. “This kind of harassment has to stop without delay,” Jacob said, threatening similar retaliation in Nigeria.
Parrikar said most Nigerians living in Goa only had photocopies of their passports and visas as proof of their nationality. “We have questioned a lot of Nigerians and were verifying their documents. Most of them have only photo copies of their passports and visas. We are going to ask the Nigerian embassy to verify these documents,” the Chief Minister said.
The verification is part of a drive started by the Goa government for inspection of documents of all foreign nationals living in Goa. The drive was announced after the highway violence last Thursday.