Nigerian teenager shot dead in South Africa

Chinonso Obiaju, a Nigerian teenager, was on Saturday killed in  Johannesburg, South Africa.

Adetola Olubajo, the president of Nigerian union in South Africa, confirmed the killing to NAN, saying the deceased lived in Roodeprt with his guardian.

Olubajo said Mike Nsofor, the deceased’s guardian, disclosed that he was shot around 6:30pm.

“He went to buy something from a shop with his friend and someone chased and opened fire on them, killing him,’’ Olubajo said.

“He was born here I learnt and the mother is in the US. I have spoken to Mike Nsofor to pass the Nigerian community’s condolences and call for justice to be served in this case as anybody who hunts down a young school boy couldn’t have any justifiable reasons.”

He said the family would be burying the deceased in South Africa, noting that the union’s leaders in Johannesburg would also contact him “on developments”.

Olubajo said the union would be going to the police on Monday to finalise “on the registry and provision of his papers”.

He implored the federal government to urgently protect Nigerians in diaspora.

Many Nigerians have lost their lives in South Africa.

On June 13, Obianuju Ndubuisi-Chukwu, deputy director-general of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), was found dead in her hotel room in South Africa.

Ndubuisi-Chukwu had been scheduled to return to Nigeria on June 12 after attending the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) conference in Johannesburg.

However, her corpse was found in a room in Emperor Palace Hotel where she had lodged for the conference.

While Ndubuisi-Chukwu was initially believed to have died in her sleep, an autopsy report from South Africa’s department of home affairs showed that she died of “unnatural causes consistent with strangulation”.