NIGERIAN at home and abroad are expressing outrage over the role played by Senegalese authorities who refused to provide security, while the staff and the building of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Senegal recently came under violent attacks.
Officials of the embassy, based in the capital city of Dakar, said that local law enforcement agencies did not intervene to stop the people, suspected to be angry protesting Igbos, from vandalizing the large compound where the embassy is located in the city.
The officials also allege that even while requests were dispatched to protect the embassy, Senegalese authorities did nothing, allegedly because the matter was considered as “between Nigerian compatriots”
Sharpegedgenews.com reliably gathered that the suspected angry Igbo protesters were angered by incessant lethargic disposition of officials at the embassy anytime the officials’ assistance was sought by citizens who otherwise thought the helped could from the home government.
In this particular affair, the failure of the embassy to assist in securing burial rites for a dead Nigerian was said to have acted as impetus for the violent demonstration which left vehicles, windows, computers and other properties estimated at millions of dollars destroyed.
The protesters also tore down the Nigerian flag from the flagpole and smashed windows of vehicles parked within the embassy premises. It was not immediately clear if any staff of the embassy sustained any life threatening injuries.
Diplomatic sources say that the government of Nigeria has protested to the Senegalese authorities and refused to say if the commitments of Nigeria on ECOWAS regional integration would permit for the suspension of bilateral activities by the mission at this point to ensure the safety of Nigerian officials.