SIR: On Friday, July 29, Italians as well Nigerians were collectively horrified by the brutal beating to death of Alika Ogorchukwu in Cavitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea in Italy.
According to the Italian Police, the deceased, a 39-year-old Nigerian, was selling goods on the main street of Civitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea, when his attacker grabbed his crutch and struck him down before beating him to death. The heinous crime was captured on camera as well as by some onlookers who stood by and did nothing.
While Alika, a disabled man, was being beaten to death, passersby did nothing to help him. Rather, many stood by, onlookers watched and filmed in a staggering display of iniquitous indifference that shows a section of the Italian society that has lost its humanity.
Police have arrested the suspect. But at this point, nothing will bring back to life the father of two who worked as a labourer until he resorted to selling goods after he was struck down by a car and lost the use of his legs.
For Nigeria, Alika‘s death opens up a sea of sobering questions. It was not the first time a Nigerian was killed or brutally attacked in another country. It was not even the thousandth time. For how long will the citizens of the Giant of Africa remain soft targets of the many bloodthirsty wolves who prowl the streets of many foreign countries looking for whom to devour?
What is the worth Nigeria attaches to the lives of its citizens forced to flee the country and live in countries that are ordinarily backwater countries?
Nigeria has a Diaspora Commission, how loudly is the world being told that no matter where a Nigerian is on the face of the earth, they must not be taken for granted?
Perhaps, what happens to Nigerians outside Nigeria is only but a reflection of what happens here at home. A country which does not place premium on the lives of its citizens, and which has consequently seen those lives cheapened by insecurity, is a country that has since lost the moral fibre to demand that the rights of its citizens anywhere in the world be fully and forcefully respected.
Nigeria could learn from the USA and other countries which place the highest premium on the lives of their citizens both home and abroad.
Crime as well as criminals abound in every country of the world, but there is no doubt that if the conditions here are dramatically improved, many Nigerians will have no reason to move to some countries where even the air reeks of death as the Grim Reaper patrols.
- Kene Oabiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com