•Blacks ‘not intimidated’
After a two-week reprieve, the crackdown on Nigerians in Libya continued yesterday.
Besides, most of the detained 200 Nigerians have not been released, The Nation learnt.
Although 30 women among the detainees were set free yesterday by the rebels, a spokesman for the trapped Nigerians in Libya, Mr. Daramola Siji, said more male Nigerians were quickly arrested to “fill the vacuum” left by the women.
The troubled Nigerians are pleading with the Federal Government to prevail on Britain and France to lift the air sanction on Libya to enable them return home.
Siji, who spoke exclusively with The Nation, claimed that Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s fire-spitting broadcast has led to the fresh crackdown on Nigerians.
He said: “The rebels have started attacking and arresting Nigerians again, following fugitive Gaddafi’s adamant posture.
“The fate of the over 200 Nigerians in underground cells is still unknown. Although 30 Nigerian women were released on Monday, more male Nigerians were arrested at Libya’s borders with Tunis and Mahruga (near Tripoli) to replace those lucky women.”
“The thinking of the Transitional National Council (TNC), the new rulers of Libya, is that Gaddafi has succeeded in holding on till now because Blacks are fighting his cause. Nigerians in Libya are erroneously thought to be fighting for that beleaguered Colonel.
“But the rebels do not know that the pro-Gaddafi forces are not Nigerians. They are other Black migrant workers from Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and others.”
Siji said: “We have appealed to the Federal Government to evacuate Nigerians in Libya, but no action has been taken.
“Our latest plea is that the government should prevail on Britain and France to ensure the lifting of air sanction on Libya by NATO to enable us find our way back home.
“We have reached a point that some of us are ready to pay our way through to return to Nigeria. If not for the air sanction, some of us would have returned home.”
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The plight of stranded Nigerians and other Black migrant workers will certainly come up in the discussion with TNC leaders at the ongoing General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
“We will find a common ground on the issue. Let us be hopeful.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru, a few weeks ago protested to the TNC the plight of migrant Black workers, especially Nigerians.
Ashiru said: “The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to note with concern reports of incessant abuse of helpless civilians in Libya by some unscrupulous elements who continue to take undue advantage of the ongoing crisis in that country, particularly to carry out attacks on Black migrant workers and other Black Africans stranded in Libya arising from the crisis in that country.
“Regrettably, these reports revealed outright killings, rape and extortion of money from these helpless Africans who have taken refuge in camps as well as those in detention and incarceration.
“This development is a deviation from the overall expressed desire of the TNC, the African Union and indeed the United Nations for the restoration of democracy and good governance in Libya.
“These extra-judicial killings certainly run contrary to Nigeria’s call for the leadership of the TNC to be magnanimous in victory and can only stand in the way of peace building, early reconciliation and reconstruction in Libya.
“While confirming that the concern of the Nigerian government on this reported development has accordingly been brought to the urgent attention of the representative of the TNC, the government seizes this opportunity to call on the leadership of the TNC to immediately take steps to check the excesses of these unscrupulous elements in Libya in order to pave the way for the restoration of genuine democracy and true reconciliation for all Libyans.
“Nigeria reiterates its support not only for the yearnings for political freedom by the Libyan people, but also in the ability of the leadership of the TNC to restore order in the Libyan society at the shortest possible time.
SOURCE: The Nation Newspaper, 20 September 2011. http://www.thenationonlineng.net
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