Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has described the killing of 16 Nigeria travellers in Burkina Faso as unjustifiable, callous and criminal.
In a statement by the Head of Media and Public Relations, Abdur-Rahman
Balogun, the NIDCOM chair called on the Burkinabe authorities to fish
out the perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly.
Dabiri-Erewa who reiterated President Muhammadu Buhari ‘s resolve to
ensure ” appropriate sanction” through diplomacy to those who were
involved in the wicked killing, said it was a condemnable and barbaric
act.
The NIDCOM boss joined others in condoling the families and friends of
the deceased and prayed for the safety of other stranded Nigerians in
the country.
“To those who were unjustifiably killed, especially as they were on
spiritual pilgrimage, may Allah accept them into His martyrdom and
quicken the pace of recovery of those injured survivors.”, she prayed.
It will be recalled that some Muslim pilgrims including 16 Nigerians
were allegedly shot and killed by Burkinabe soldiers on patrol.
At a news conference on Sunday in Abuja, the Jam’iyyatu Ansariddeen
Attijaniyya of Nigeria revealed that 16 of its members were shot dead by
the Burkinabe soldiers on patrol.
They were reportedly on their way to the home country of their leader,
Sheikhul-Islam Ibrahim Niasse, in Senegal when they met their untimely
death.
The national secretary of the Islamic group, Sayyidi Yahaya, said the
Ansaruddeen members were “randomly selected and cold-bloodedly shot to
death in a most horrendous display of bestiality” after being stopped by
the Burkinabe soldiers
