“And the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace,” Exodus 14:14
As I came back to my computer on Wednesday, 22nd of August this year to get some works I had left unfinished done, I quickly opened my yahoo mail to check on any new messages and saw quite a handful but one got my attention; it was that from my Spanish friend, Fausto Giudice from Tlaxcala-a Spanish online journal.
The subject read; BBC Email: “Greek riots over Nigerian’s death.” I opened the message and saw Fausto’s message that this will interest me. I linked up through the URL link in the message and checked out the content; another Nigerian killed by Greek policemen.
The incident, as reported by the Associated Press (AP), happened on the previous day.
The victim, Mr Tony Onuoha, in his 20s, was said to have jumped from a building where he was alleged to have been selling pirated CDs in a café when the police where trying to arrest him.
72 hours later, while still trying to gather information in order to grasp the situation and come to terms with the reality that another compatriot in Diaspora had been callously killed by the host country’s law enforcement officers, another email came from a fellow countryman resident in Istanbul, Turkey, announcing yet another bad news; the demise of Festus Okey, who it was reported, was shot by the police on Tuesday of the same week .
To say I was devastated would be an understatement; It was just 72 days ago when the pain in Spain occurred; 59 since the world heard the agony of a mother in mourning and 52 when Concerned Nigerians Worldwide (CNW) - an umbrella body of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, staged a worldwide protest against the Spanish government concerning the murder of a Nigerian deportee, Osamuyi Aikpitanhi, who was killed while being deported aboard an Iberia Airline flight 163745, on the 9th of June this year. The two Spanish policemen that committed the grave offence were just charged to court on Monday of that same week and just as Mama Africa was getting comforted by the feeling that justice for one of her sons killed in Spain had started after almost two months, she is being confronted that two of her children residing in Turkey and the Olympic country of Greece have being ruthlessly killed.
These untimely murders brazenly committed by security operatives of these European countries are becoming too many for Africa and Africans to let sleeping dogs lie and hope it would never t happen again. In fact, on a closer scrutiny, the modus operandi of most of these death-enforcement-agents have taken a style-they are brutal and done in a manner very gory and most gruesome with an objective of achieving instant separation of the soul from the body of their many victims without giving them a chance to say the Lord’s Prayer.
Taking a cursory look at the mode of the past and present reported killings (God Knows how many are goes unreported or unheard of), it seems another unannounced holocaust have been declared by European security authorities against African immigrants in general and Nigerians specifically. A brief summary of the method of killing Africans used by these vampires wasting human blood reveals that there’s more to this ugly trend than meets the eyes which prompts one to ask, Is there a conspiracy or are these officers carrying out an instruction? Africans need answers!
Edmund Idehen starts the list of recorded murders this year (to the best of my knowledge); the 34 year-old Nigerian and expectant father (his wife later delivered of a baby girl some few weeks after his death) went to the Hospital Maggiore in Bolognia, Italy, in May this year to get a bed rest and treatment for depression only to have death administered to him by two Italian policemen invited by the hospital management who refused to heed to his request to be discharged some few days after he insisted on being stable enough to go home. We ae yet to hear about the officers brought to book.
The summer month of June saw Osamuyi Aikpitanhi gagged, tied hands and foot, injected with tranquilizers before being bundled into an Iberia aircraft bound for Lagos , Nigeria . The 23 year-old died shortly after take-off in that condition; tied like an animal meant for slaughter. The actual time he transcended to the great beyond still remains a mystery but one fact remains evident, he was seated in-between two Spanish policemen who may have noticed him kicking and grasping for breath but kept quiet. They have taken the credit for the conscienceless and brutal murder of the young man who they later went on to accuse of being wanted for murder and rape by his native police. But as a Nigerian proverb says, “When the wind blows, it reveals the anus of the cock.” The Nigeria Police has since declared that the victim, who is still lying cold in the morgue as at the time of this report, had no record with the police; neither did he rape anybody in Nigeria or Spain; talk about giving a dog a bad name in order to kill it, only that in Osamuyi’s case, the bad name was given after the cold-blooded killers had recorded mission accomplished. Autopsy reports had since shown that the poor, defenceless deportee died of induced asphyxia (suffocation), reducing the Spanish police’s earlier claims that he died while trying to swallow the industrial ductile tape used in gagging him to tissues of uncooked lies woven by the police to deceive humanity, mislead the public and cover up their devilish act of wickedness.
Another mourning drum sounded some few days after the murder on Iberia Airline; another African wailing was heard in Switzerland, the victim, M. Keita; he claimed to be from Gambia .
African News Switzerland , an online African magazine that adds the continent’s voice to different debates, literarily captured Keita’s transition as: “Unwanted by Switzerland , Rejected by Gambia , Accepted by God.”
Keita’s touching demise started when he was arrested by Swiss Police and accused of living in Switzerland without Valid papers. He claimed to be a Gambian and was put on a plane destined for Gambia . But on arrival on an African soil, Gambian authorities disclaimed him as their citizen (I will say here shame on them). Having been rejected, he was flown back to Zurich amidst complaints that he was not feeling well. As reported, a doctor was called and he was found dead. What happened inside the cell he was locked up in still remains another tale by moonlight, another story that will enter the “untold” file category. While preliminary reports excluded any violent impact or third party influence and the final autopsy report confirmed Keita’s death as natural, the fact remains that he may have been killed technically by the Swiss authorities should the psychological stress, denials and isolations he suffered be put into consideration. Why? Switzerland has a haunting record of killing deportees. Does what happened to Samson Chukwu, a Nigerian asylum seeker at the detention centre in Valais in May 2001 ring a bell? If it doesn’t, then sleep on the case of Khaled Abuzarifeh, a Palestinian asylum seeker who died in a lift at Switzerland 's Bern airport and get the a knowlegde of what the Swiss police are famed for.
The list of defenceless people, families, tribes being killed by elements of the West continue to grow on a daily basis; hardly a day passes without a bomb killing innocent people in Iraq or the US marines not killing civilians in an attempt to fight a war that has caused more harm than good for the people. That will be a topic for another day.
August has come and two young men have been sent to their early graves in Greece and Turkey respectively; two Nigerians Tony Onuoha and Festus Okey.
While Tony was killed after being forced to jump out of the balcony from the first floor of a cafeteria where he was selling CDs to make an innocent living ( he was not selling crack or heroin) when he was been harassed by officers of the Greek police, Okey on his part was murdered in cold blood.
Both young men were defenceless at the time they met their untimely and gruesome deaths.
According to reports, the Elas (Greek police) have in recent times, dehumanized immigrants by subjecting them to torture sessions which, at times, results in loss of lives; Okey was said to have received a dose of the police brutality a week before he had his life exterminated.
The more bizarre and Nazi-like waste of a human life was perpetrated by the Turkish police and their victim was a 25 year-old Festus Okey who, a hopeful football player hoping to ply his trade in one of the clubs in Turkey but he became game for the police.
According to a source residing in Istanbul , Turkey , Africans and Nigerians woke up on the 22nd of August to another nightmare: VATAN, one of the Turkish national daily News reported on Pg 5 of their magazine that a Nigerian was killed by Turkish police. On further investigations, it was established that the young man, identifies as Festus Okey, was arrested by the police on Monday, 20th of August, 2007 and detained at the Beyoglu Police cell. He was later shot to death; killed by bullets bought by Turkish taxpayers’ money for their police who he was under their custody. As of the 24th of August when the SOS was sent to my email, his corpse was still lying cold in the morgue at Yeni Bosnia Mortuary and this, according to the source, was not the first time this jungle killing, Diallo-like execution of defenceless Africans is being witnessed.
Such capital elimination by the Turkish police who are accused of first of all collecting all the money found on their victims before they serve their main course, have made Africans in Turkey to be weak and afraid to talk or speak out against the brutality for fear that the same lethal treatment will be meted out to them hence the sending of SOS to their brothers home. An Excerpt of such an SOS is shown below:
Fellow XXXXX,
I am residing legally here in Istanbul Turkey, but in a recent time, there have being a lot of brutal treatment of Africans here, unlawful detention and exhortation by Turkish Police, mostly here in Istanbul, anytime they come across a Blackman alone, you will be a lucky man if you are not met with cash and if you do, you will be force to forfeit the cash for them and in the case whereby you refuse, you will be beating up brutally by gang of police, this kind of treatment have landed so many Black Africans in hospital for days, before they beat you up, they would have already arranged some hard drug as a way to set you up so that you will not go free from their brutal treatment, that have kept lot of Africans in Prison for years as well.
On the 22nd of August we wake up with another Nightmare, one of the Turkish National Daily News (VATAN) published on that day on page 5 of the Magazine that a Nigeria was Killed by Turkish Police. We later confirmed it to be so, the man by name, Festus Okey, was shot dead and his body is still in Yeni Bosnia Mortuary as I am writing to you now.
From the information gathered, Mr. Festus Okey was arrested by the police on Monday 20th of August and detained at Beyoglu Police Cell; he was shot on Tuesday 21st and this is not the first time we are witnessing this kind of situation. But the African here are too weak and afraid to speak out on this kind of brutality and I believe this is the time to act, time to speak out.
The XXXXXX, What can we do to Help our fellow helpless brother who are passing through this brutal treatment here in Istanbul Turkey . We need your help, we need your Action. Can we do it again, just as we do it in the situation that happened in Spain ?
Yours.
XXXXXX XXXXXX
Istanbul , Turkey .
Such a pathetic letter and anger provoking plea from a brother crying for help and then comes the questions: why Africans? Why refugees trying to eke out a living? Why are innocent and defenceless immigrants always the victims? How long will this conspiracy to murder and kill innocent people by the police and law enforcement agents in Europe last? Why has the different governments and members of the European Union (EU) kept a deaf ear to the magnitude and frequency of occurrence of these deaths of foreign nationals who are supposed to be protected by their officers? What is the United Nations (UN) doing to tackle this ugly cancer that is gradually spreading throughout Europe ? Must Africa and Africans keep being killed by the police operatives of the so called first world countries in this age where the world is being called a global village? What will make our world global if a black man is not sure who to fear the most? Must African keep watching their backs from the era of the slave trade to now; watching their backs for bullets from another police officer? Will the parliament of European Union countries sit down in their hallowed chambers and pretend all is well when another innocent blood is being spilled?
Will the ill-fate meted out to Samson Chukwu (Nigerian asylum seeker killed in Switzerland ) in 2001; Christian Ecole Ebune (Cameroonian asylum seeker, aged 31, died in Hungary ) in 2000; Aamir Mohamed Ageeb (Sudanese asylum seeker, killed in Germany ) in 1999; Marcus Omofuma (Nigerian asylum seeker, aged 25. Killed in Austria) in 1999; Khaled Abuzarifeh Palestinian asylum seeker aged 27 who murdered in Switzerland) in 1999; Semira Adamu (Nigerian asylum seeker aged 20 brutally suffocated to death in Belgium) in 1998; Kola Bankole (Nigeria asylum seeker killed in Germany) in 1998; Joy Gardner (Jamaican overstayed immigrant aged 40, a mother who was killed in the presence of her 5 year –old son by British deportation police in her home in North London) in August 1993;Arumugam Kanapathipillai (Tamil asylum seeker killed in France, aged 33 who was bound, gagged and dumped wrapped up in a blanket, on plane from Paris to Colombo. He gave up in a hospital at Aulnay-sous-Bois ; Osamuyi Aikpitanhi, Nigerian deportee killed by Spanish security officers while being deported from Spain to Nigeria on the 9th of June, 2007 , go on abated, not to be looked into? How long will this killings last before the world leaders recognises it as a problem?
It may seem to these killers in uniform that these fatal casualties and victims of this crime have no voice; maybe their leaders don’t care for them; maybe their government maybe afraid to speak out because of the debt they are owing to these wealthy nations; maybe this is a calculated conspiracy by people in authority in Europe to chase these unwanted and miserable aliens away from their country; maybe as I write another African is lying cold somewhere with hot leads pumped into his body somewhere in Russia; maybe another will die on Christmas eve in front of her child; maybe Mama Africa will continue wailing for the souls of her children killed all over Europe by police men funded by the state; maybe Africa and Africans are going through a holocaust with camps all over Europe and messengers of death on police uniforms; maybe, maybe, maybe! But be rest assured that this will never continue forever; know it that Africa has found her voice and will rise up one day like the Zulu standing on chariots from the Kilimanjaro and say, “Enough is Enough.” As these police officers keep pulling their triggers, gagging with their tapes and torturing souls to death, let them have this at the back of their minds; like the blood of Esau, these innocent souls that were killed while they were defenceless, their blood will keep shouting out to God, to Allah for vengeance and Allah will fight for Africa and they shall hold our peace.
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