Akinyemi urges Fed Govt to sue South Africa at ICJ

ONE-TIME External Affairs Minister Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi has urged the Federal Government to take South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for failing in its duty of care and protection for Nigerian citizens in the country.He also called on Nigeria to file complaints against specific South African officials at the global court for aiding and abetting the xenophobic attacks.In a statement issued in Lagos on Sumday, Prof Akinyemi listed the culpability of South African officials as follows:The statement credited to Dr. Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, South African Minister of International Relations, that Nigerians were drug dealers;The statement credited to Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkongi that they fought for their land and that that land would not be surrendered to immigrants;The statement credited to the South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that South Africa is an angry nation and that the country could not prevent the xenophobic attacks;Various statements credited to South African diplomats blaming the immigrants;The anti-immigrant acts by the South African immigration service officials, which for all practical purposes amount to holding Nigerian immigrants hostage by refusing to allow them to be evacuatedAkinyemi said: I have come to the conclusion that the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other immigrants are acts sponsored or condoned by the South African state in violation of Article 2, paragraph 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Article 2, paragraph 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; United Nations Convention on the elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination; and International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers.I, therefore, call on Nigeria to sue South Africa before the International Court of Justice for failure in its duty of care and protection of Nigerian citizens resident there.I call on Nigeria to file complaints against specific South African officials at the International Criminal Court for aiding and abetting the xenophobic attacks.
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