Adeola Aderounmu

In 2007 Spain killed Osamuyia Aikpitanhi as he was about to be deported. There was an outrage by Nigerians Worldwide.

Since then we have read about other Nigerians killed in Russia, China and possibly other places.

The news on friday that Switzerland has committed one more murder by killing another Nigerian is disheartening.

Why do European Police have to killed asylum seekers set for deportation?

Is it not enough to arrest them and put them on the flight back home?

Why do they have to use extreme measures like covering their faces and tying them up like animals just because they want to deport them? Seriously even animal right groups would protest if animals are treated like that.

But these are the things they do to Nigerians and other immigrants on deportation list-they tie them up and often they inject them with poisonous substances!

Switzerland should be ashamed of itself for this murder!

The Nigerian embassy in Switzerland should take up this issue very seriously. The policeman or woman who committed this crime should be dismissed with immediate effect and place on trial.

If they consider it a state murder the government of Switzerland should tender an unreserved apology to the family of the victim and to the government of Nigeria. The government of Switzerland must take measures to stop these state murders as this is not the first time. One hopes that this will be the last.

I do not in any way encourage illegal migration of Nigerians to Switzerland but I strongly believe that the human right conventions should be allowed to take its course when there are violations. Invariably there are no provisions that asylum seekers should be killed.

I do not also encourage Nigerians who are involved in drug traficking in-and-out of Switzerland. In that case the law should take its course. I am also sure that Switzerland would not have instructed its law enforcement agents to be agents of state murders in that case. No one should act above the law.

After all is said and done, we should never forget all these events. We must take measures that will promote the rights and privileges of the ordinary citizens regardless of whether they are legal or illegal immigrants. Life has no duplicate and the dignity of all must be respected.

Back home in Nigeria the government must do all it can to improve the economic and political situations. We owe it to ourselves as Nigerians to develop our domain, our country and our motherland. No one will do it for us.

We must do these things to encourage Nigerians to return home and to reduce the urge of desperate migration flow to Europe and other places.

In this particular case, some of us are watching and waiting for Justice.

May the soul of the departed find peace!

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Story from BBC, Friday 19th March

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8576085.stm

Switzerland has halted special flights to deport asylum seekers after a Nigerian man on hunger strike died on the tarmac at Zurich airport.

Swiss police say they had shackled the 29-year-old man, who was being forcibly deported along with 15 other Nigerians whose asylum bids had been rejected.

When he fell ill on Wednesday the police took off his shackles and a doctor tried in vain to revive him.

Swiss authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

Police said they had shackled the man because he had resisted deportation.

Two Nigerian witnesses quoted by the Swissinfo news website accused the police of inhumane treatment.

“They treated us like animals,” said one, called Emmanuel.

“They shackled our feet, knees, hands, hips, arms and torso and made us wear a helmet like those worn by boxers. It was simply impossible to move,” he said.

The man who died was a drug-dealer who had been on hunger strike for several days.

It is the third such death in Switzerland since 1999.

Last year there were 43 special repatriation flights from Switzerland, deporting some 360 people, mostly to the Balkans or Africa, Swissinfo reports.