A report by Nigeria’s Newspaper, Daily Trust has revealed that no fewer than 53 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa and 14 other countries within three years, with the Southern African nation topping the list.
According to, newsexpressngr.com, the data showed that the 53 Nigerians were either shot, stabbed or burnt alive, some of them by the police and other security operatives.
According to the data, 11 people were stabbed to death, 19 gunned down, 2 burnt, 20 killed by the police, while another 2 died mysteriously.
Of the 53 people killed, 23 were in South Africa between 2018 and 2021; nine died during an airstrike at a camp in Libya in 2019, four each were killed in Ghana and the United Kingdom in 2018, two each killed in the United States and Malaysia.
The data also revealed that at least one Nigerian has been killed in Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, Mexico, Indonesia, Ukraine, Ireland and Italy.
READ: News: Malawi removes nationals from South Africa with buses over Xenophobia
The most recent incident was the murder of Rita Amenze, 31, who was allegedly killed by her 61-year-old Italian husband, Pierangelo Pellizzar, penultimate Friday.
According to reports, the estranged husband snuffed life out of Amenze after she filed for divorce.
Amenze arrived Italy through Libya in 2017 and got married to the Italian in 2018.
Pellizzar was alleged to have shot her four times in front of her colleagues at the parking lot of Mf Mushroom, a company where she worked, at 7:30am on Friday in Noventa Vicentina.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Italy, Mfawa Omini Abam; chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Nigerian Community in Italy, have asked the Italian authorities to investigate the killing and ensure that justice is served.
In South Africa, where the highest number of Nigerians were killed, Pius Ezekwem, 46, who owned a chain of bed and breakfast guest houses in King William’s Town in Eastern Cape Province, was killed on August 23, 2019.
It was alleged that Ezekwem was picked up by a team of eight South African policemen from a restaurant where he was having his meal, led to his home and tortured to death in the presence of his South African wife and mother-in-law, in the guise of being interrogated.
READ: Xenophobia Epidemic: Nigeria protest the killing of another Nigerian in South Africa
According to the data, eight Nigerians were killed in South Africa in 2018, 14 in 2019 and one 1 in 2021.
The murder happened almost every month, and in some cases, more than one Nigerian was killed from gunshot or tortured by robbers. Some died during the xenophobic attack or by the country’s policemen.
Another incident was when a 17-year-old secondary school student, Chinonso Obiaju, was killed in a suspected xenophobic attack in Johannesburg on July 20, 2019.
Obiaju reportedly went to buy an item from a shop with his friend when a gunman opened fire on them, killing him and left his friend critically injured.
A week earlier, Martin Ebuzoeme was gruesomely murdered in Yeoville, Johannesburg about 7:30pm on July 12.
Before the July 12 killing, there was the assassination of Mr Ozumba Tochukwu-Lawrence by an unidentified gunman at 10 Koppe, Middleburg, Mpumalanga on July 6.
It is estimated that more than 800,000 Nigerians, mostly young people, are currently residing in South Africa.
The president of the Nigerian Citizens Association, South Africa (NICASA), Mr Benjamin Okoli, said they had adopted a strategy that drastically reduced the killing of Nigerians in that country.
“Violence against Nigerians by the South African police has drastically reduced. In the past, we used to have situations where the police were involved in the killing of our people, but such scenarios don’t play out now. We were able to change the narrative.
“Last year, we secured the conviction of a South African police who shot a Nigerian dead. He is currently serving his term in prison.
“Recently, we secured the conviction of another policeman as well. He was involved in the killing of a Nigerian in KwaZulu-Natal. A court of competent jurisdiction found the policeman guilty of murder and sentenced him. He is currently serving his term.
“This is part of what we are doing to stop the unlawful killing of Nigerians in South Africa. And with all fairness, the government of the host country now handles the matters of Nigerians with care,” Okoli said.