Human right activist and renowned lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has asked the Federal Government to urge President Cyril Ramphosa’s administration to prosecute culprits involved in the killing of 121 Nigerians in South Africa in the last 18 months.

He said this is the only way to stop further killings of Nigerians in South Africa.

Falana gave the advice in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, titled: “How government of Nigeria and South Africa failed to prevent brutal killings of 121 Nigerian citizens in South Africa”.

The advice was sequel to the brutal killing of one Chibuzo Nwankwo, a 42-year old Nigerian immigrant who hailed from Enugu State, whose death has since been confirmed by the Nigerian community in that country.

The activist lawyer said South Africa should be made to compensate the bereaved families of Nigerians that have since been killed in South Africa due to official negligence and impunity on the part of their government.

He noted that the xenophobic attacks on immigrants continued in South Africa owing to government’s failure to put adequate measures in place to prevent the trend.

Admitting that the South African government has not been directly implicated in the killings, Falana contended that its refusal to prosecute the suspected murderers has emboldened the criminal elements that have specialised in the killing of unarmed African immigrants.

“To that extent, the South African Government is liable to bear full responsibility for the mindless killings,” he stated.

Falana said there should be a firm commitment on the part of the government of South Africa to protect the life of every African immigrant in strict compliance with Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which provides that “human beings are inviolable”.

“Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right,” he maintained.

Falana noted that in spite of the leadership roles of both Nigeria and South Africa in the African continent, the governments of both countries have deliberately refused to accept the jurisdictional competence of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights by making a declaration in line with Article 34 (6) of the protocol for the establishment of the court.

He argued that by refusing to domesticate the declaration, both countries have made it impossible for their nationals, whose human rights have been violated by state actors to seek legal redress in the African Court on Human and People’s Rights sitting in Arusha, Tanzania.

“As if that is not enough, the Government of South Africa has virtually concluded plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) by revoking the ratification of the Rome Statute, which was authorised by President Nelson Mandela on July 17, 1998.

“On its own part, the government of Nigeria has not gone beyond the regular condemnation of the brutal killings. Up till now, the government has not deemed it fit to take bold diplomatic measures to guarantee the security of the life and property of every Nigerian citizen living in South Africa.

“The Federal Government has not even assisted the victims of xenophobic attacks and relatives of those who have been hacked to death to demand for the payment of aggravated damages and prosecution of the culprits who are well-known to the police authorities in South Africa,” he lamented.

He remarked that the lackadaisical attitude of the Nigerian government to the brutalization of Nigerian immigrants in South Africa is not surprising in view of the impotence of the state to curb the incessant killing of innocent citizens at home by terrorists, herders, armed robbers, kidnappers and other bandits.