Popular sports journalist, Aisha Falode, has written an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle Dubai authorities over the “daily” killings of Nigerian youths in the United Arab Emirates.
Falode whose son, Toba Falode, was allegedly murdered in Dubai, said the recent killing of the son of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alameiyeseigha, had confirmed her public outcry which was ignored by the Nigerian government.
She lamented that in spite of her nationwide campaign for justice over the murder of her son, the Nigerian Government refused to act and justice had not been done.
She said, “For record emphasis, my son was thrown from the balcony of a 17-floor apartment in Manchester Tower in Dubai. A Saudi boy resident in Dubai confessed to the murder; he had my son’s blood on his T-shirt, he had my son’s blood on his knuckles and boasted about serving time for 25 years in prison, if it comes to the worst. “His murderer has a name-Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser.
“There were witnesses to this murder. They have written statements verbally and orally corroborating what the murderer said.
“I have put all this together to make this easy for the Nigerian government to help me get justice for my son in Dubai.
“I warned the Nigerian government that Nigerian youths were being killed in Dubai on a daily basis, as confirmed by our embassy in Dubai. I also warned parents about the danger of Dubai.
“I also stated repeatedly that if justice was not gotten for my son that another murder will happen. Indeed, there have been many more after my son, although not mentioned because they do not have a voice. But now, there is one so close to the government that has been struck.
“I did not have to be a soothsayer to know this. Many more will happen until we get justice for Toba Falode, and all those who have been murdered in cold blood in Dubai.
“We cannot stand by and watch our youths’ lives being downplayed over and above “collaboration and partnership” with a country that hates us with so much passion, that they are cutting down the lives of our young ones in cold blood crudely and viciously and yet we seek “partnership and collaboration” in investment with this same country.”
Falode therefore called on the government to summon the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Auwalu, and the Foreign Ministry to answer questions on the Nigerian youths that were being killed in Dubai.
She added, “Our ambassador in the UAE, Ambassador Ibrahim Auwalu, must be called back to Nigeria to answer to every young soul that has been lost to Dubai unaccounted for due to his lack of responsibility in office.”
