16 Nigerians Shot Dead In Burkina Faso

Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), has called the murder of 16 Nigerian pilgrims in Burkina Faso “unjustifiable, callous, and criminal.”

Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the Commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations, issued a statement in which the NiDCOM chair urged the Burkinabe authorities to find and prosecute the offenders.

Dabiri-Erewa said the cruel massacre was a deplorable and barbaric act and reaffirmed President Muhammadu Buhari’s intention to bring “due consequence” through diplomacy to those who were implicated.

The head of the NiDCOM sent condolences to the bereaved families and friends and prayed for the wellbeing of other stranded Nigerians throughout the nation.

She prayed, “May Allah welcome those who were unjustly slaughtered into His martyrs, especially because they were on a spiritual pilgrimage, and hasten the healing of the wounded survivors.”

Recall that 16 Nigerians, among other Muslim pilgrims, were allegedly shot and killed by Burkinabe soldiers who were on patrol.

The Jam’iyyatu Ansariddeen Attijaniyya of Nigeria announced at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja that 16 of its members had been killed by Burkinabe soldiers on patrol.

They supposedly died while traveling to Senegal, the nation where their leader, Sheikhul-Islam Ibrahim Niasse, was born.

The Ansaruddeen members were “randomly selected and cold-bloodedly shot to death in a most horrifying display of bestiality,” according to Sayyidi Yahaya, the national secretary of the Islamic organization, after being stopped by the Burkinabe soldiers.