By Oluwakemi Adelagun
The chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said the autopsy of the Nigerian with disability killed in Italy shows that he died of suffocation.
She spoke during an interview on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Thursday.
A 39-year-old Nigerian man, Alika Ogorchukwu, was on Friday beaten to death by an Italian man in Civitanova Marche city, Italy, while passersby watched and filmed, making no attempt to help him.
According to NiDCOM, he was a street vendor with physical disability and his murderer used his clutches to beat him to death.
The incident happened in the same week two Nigerian residents in Canada were shot dead.
“Well, I won’t say Nigerians are being attacked all over the world. The world is becoming a more dangerous place,” she said.
“It tells you that you know, there’s crime all over the world, and things happen all over the world.
“Just as in Nigeria, in the case of Alika. Like I give an update, number one, the autopsy is out and he died of suffocation.”
She said the murder suspect has been arrested and the “next step is to be charged to court.”
The deceased was his family’s breadwinner despite his disability she said
She said the death was a needless one while adding that the “Nigerian ambassador is on top of the situation” and would ensure that the case will not be “swept under the carpet.”
Speaking further, the commission’s chairperson said the deceased’s lawyer is handling the matter.
“There’s a very good lawyer handling this case. The lawyer is actually Alika’s because he had been his lawyer handling even his case, how he became disabled so it’s a very good lawyer, and the lawyer is on the matter,” she said.
“I cannot preempt what he will be charged with what the lawyers will say. But definitely, the mission is working with a very, very good lawyer that will handle this case. But one thing is for sure. Justice must be served.”
She explained that the deceased had had an accident, and got a lawyer to get his compensation from an insurance company.
She also said that his lawyer was retained because the ambassador “realized that he is a very good lawyer, so it’s like, rather than get another lawyer, a lawyer who knows the family, knows him will continue the case.
“He was a very healthy, hardworking man before the accident.”
