Rights Group Condemns Racist Attacks On Nigerians In India

A human rights group, Youth and Conflict Resolution Initiatives, YCRI, has condemned what it termed “the unprovoked, racist and murderous attacks against Nigerians in India.”
In a release signed by its Director of International Relations, Comrade Efemena Agadama, YCRI described as a shame the alleged role of the Indian police and government officials in the saga and demanded for the immediate release of 51 Nigerians arrested while protesting against the brutal murder of their fellow country man.
“The video footage currently circulating on Youtube where a Nigerian is brutally beaten with dangerous sticks, blood dripping from his head, in the presence of the Indian Police, by an angry mob and the statement credited to Subhash Phaldesai, BJP MLA from Sanguem allegedly describing Nigerians as wild animals pumped up with drugs,  is a shame to the Indian Police and government.

“Nigerians do not deserve to be treated or described as wild animals, cancer, Negroes or aggressive people. It is against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and betrayal of the bilateral relations between Nigeria and India.”
The group however commended the quick response of the Nigerian High Commission in India on the issue, and therefore called on the federal government, the National Assembly and the Nigeria Police to use all diplomatic means to address the situation to protect Nigerians from the ongoing racist attacks on them.
“This struggle to protect Nigerians in India should not be left just for the Nigerian High Commission in India. It should be a collective effort. We therefore, commend the quick response of the Nigerian High Commission there; that is how a Nigerian mission should react, depicting a country that will stand for its citizens in the hour of distress. There are facts that more harm would have been done without the laudable and quick response of the Nigerian mission in India.”