Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday accused the Centre of failing in its role of being an interlocutor between the Nigerian Embassy in India and the State Government, even as he accused the Nigerian attaché of sending offensive SMSes to a Superintendent of Police.
“Why did he (Nigerian diplomat) contact Goa directlyIJ This is because the Central Government failed in its job to brief the Nigerian diplomats properly,” Parrikar said.
He also criticised the Nigerian diplomat Jacob Nwadidia saying that he had sent offensive SMSes to the North Goa Superintendent of Police for her failure to handle the situation.”He went to the extent of sending offensive SMSes to our SP,” Parrikar maintained.
SP (North District) Priyanka Kashyap has drawn flak for not reacting quickly to the situation when a group of unruly Nigerians blocked the National Highway leading up to the Capital city for hours. The 200-odd Nigerians were protesting the murder of a compatriot, Obodo Uzoma Simeon, from Chapora, a beachside village in north Goa, allegedly by a local drug mafia.
Jacob had also kicked up a controversy by warning of “repercussions” against the nearly 1.2 million Indians living in Nigeria if his fellow countrymen were “targeted” or “put out on the streets” in Goa.
Parrikar said the diplomat who arrived in Goa, had not come through a proper channel.“As a foreign diplomat, he should have come through the Ministry of External Affairs. I never got any communication that anyone is coming,” the Chief Minister said. He also said the “misunderstanding” between Nigeria and India was the fallout of wrong media reporting.
“I never said that Nigerians would be deported, but what I had said was that foreigners staying illegally, including Nigerians would be deported,” Parrikar said.
The State Government has launched a crackdown on foreigners staying illegally in the State. There were reports about social ostracization of Nigerians as well.
However, Parrikar made no bones about the fact that “most Nigerians were involved in drugs. It is not racism. If you see earlier history, you will see that more Nigerians are involved in drugs. So people are seeing it that way.”
Nigeria had earlier issued a note verbale to India conveying concerns over the security of its nationals and demanded immediate arrest of those who killed the Nigerian national, prompting the Indian Government to assure it that all issues will be addressed in a cooperative manner.
The Centre had on Wednesday said it was in “diplomatic dialogue” with Nigeria and noted that it was expecting a report from the State Government in the matter.
Earlier, on Tuesday night, the special investigation squad arrested Surendra Pal in connection with the killing of Obodo Uzoma Simeon. Meanwhile, Goa’s Art and Culture Minister Daya-nand Mandrekar apologised for his description of Nigerians as a “cancer”.
“It’ was my mistake to make such a statement. I apologise,” Mandrekar told reporters here. However, the Minister said that what the Nigerians did in Goa was also wrong. “I never imagined that there would be such a problem due to my statement,” Mandrekar said. Talking to reporters on Sunday, the Minister had called Nigerians a “cancer” and their actions as detrimental to the tourism industry.