NIGERIANS intent on travelling to Europe through Libya have been advised to avoid the country in view dangers involved.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who gave the warning in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, noted that her office’s attention had been drawn to a video and pictures being circulated on the purported killing of black immigrants in Libya.
She said while the authenticity of the pictures and tapes in question could not be verified, “it is a known fact that Libya has been executing alleged black illegal immigrants for years.”
She recalled that as the Chairman Committee on Diaspora in the House of Representatives in the Seventh Assembly, she oversaw its intervention in the case of 24 Nigerians about to be killed in Libya.
She said the committee, in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), petitioned the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and late Libyan leader, Muamar Ghadaffi yielded to pressure and released them.
She informed that as at two months ago, Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) alongside, the Nigerian Embassy in Libya evacuated over 2000 Nigerians from Libya.
The presidential aide added: “The Nigerian embassy in Libya, working with NEMA has relentlessly intervened in cases involving Nigerians in trouble in Libya and will continue to do so.
“Libyans are dealing with their own struggles as there is no recognised government in place.
“The office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora hereby appeals again to Nigerian migrants to avoid Libya as penalty for illegal migration to Libya, when caught, is usually a death sentence.”
and then