Nigeria says xenophobia killed its citizen—South African police tell a different story

The South African police have refuted claims that the Nigerian man who lost his life in their custody was a victim of xenophobia.

• South African police denied that a Nigerian man who died in their custody was a victim of xenophobia.
• The Nigerian government accused South African law enforcement of xenophobic violence and threatened international action.
• Nigeria claimed the man was killed by Tshwane Metro Police using harsh interrogation methods, but South Africa said he collapsed after being arrested for drug use.
• A police watchdog is investigating the death, which followed the discovery of drugs at the scene.

Very recently, the Nigerian government blamed South African law enforcement for the death of a Nigerian national in their custody, noting that the death was linked to xenophobia.

The Nigerian government deduced that the South African police were criminally liable, and warned that it would deploy regional and international measures to hold those guilty for violence against foreign citizens accountable.

Nigeria accused South African police, particularly Tshwane Metro Police personnel, of killing a Nigerian on June 28 in Pretoria "using gruesome interrogation techniques," according to an emailed statement from the Nigerian foreign ministry on Sunday.

However, in a response on Tuesday, the South African law enforcement agency noted that the victim collapsed after being arrested for drug use and not xenophobic attacks.

"The South African ​Police Service strongly rejects attempts to link this incident ​to anti-illegal immigrant protests," a police spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson noted that in an intelligence-driven operation, a police narcotics squad had apprehended the Nigerian at his flat, as seen on Reuters.

Drugs were discovered at the scene, and the man passed out while being arrested at a Pretoria police station.

A police watchdog was informed and would look into the situation once paramedics arrived and pronounced him deceased.

Recent anti-immigrant rallies demanding the deportation of unauthorized migrants have strained diplomatic relations between South Africa, Nigeria, and other African countries.

As a result, hundreds of Nigerian people have been evacuated, and numerous Nigerian lawmakers have urged the government to consider nationalizing South African businesses operating in the country as a punitive response to the violence against its residents.

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Allegation by Nigeria against the South African police

According to the Nigerian foreign ministry, data compiled by its diplomatic missions in South Africa "lays the grounds for criminal liability" on the part of the South African government and police, and these killings implicate state liability under international law.

The officer in question is also suspected of “extra-judicial killing” of another Nigerian, the emailed statement added, while also revealing that a third Nigerian was killed under very suspicious circumstances.