Also summoned over the vexed issue were the Nigerian High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa, Mr Kabiru Bala, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who addressed reporters at the National Assembly Complex, explained that the aforementioned personalities in conjunction with the House and other stakeholders would consider the causes of the latest violence and murder unleashed on Nigerians in South Africa.
Expressing the House’s resolve to work with all the stakeholders to evolve and implement a plan to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa, he called on the authorities in South Africa to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations that its security agents and other state actors masterminded the attacks on Nigerians.
Commending the actions so far taken by President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue, he disclosed that the House would further ask the President to direct the Ministry of Health to assist the families of the bereaved in expediting the return of loved ones who have lost their lives in these unfortunate events.
Flanked by the entire principal officers of the House, he noted: “We intend not only to determine the causes of these latest events but also to assess and account for the losses in life and property that have occurred. This will allow the government to more accurately demand reparations to compensate our citizens who suffered in this recent orgy of violence.
“The House of Representatives is ready to authorise legal funding for those citizens who wish to take legal action against identified perpetrators of the violence as well as those who sponsored them or permitted their actions to occur and to continue.”
Continuing, he noted: “The House of Representatives is united and determined in its resolve to meet our people at the point of their grievance and to channel grievance into constructive action. Let no one be left in any doubt; we will seek and we will obtain by whatever means available, due restoration and recompense for all that has been lost in this latest conflagration and all the ones that have come before.
“We are committed to a sustained and special effort to see that the ends of justice are met for all our people who have suffered. We have heard the cries of our citizens, and we have witnessed their devastation. We will mourn for the dead, and cry for the lost, but we will not stop there.”
SOURCE: GUARDIAN
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