A coalition of activists under the tag, ‘Our Mumu Don Do’ led by Nigerian musician, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has urged the federal government to ensure that they do more to rescue hundreds of Nigerians undergoing maltreatment by slave dealers in Libya.
The group said this on Thursday during a rally staged at the entrance of the Libyan embassy, Asokoro, Abuja.
A report by CNN revealed several videos as well as pictures of predominantly black Africans allegedly being auctioned off as slaves in the Northern African region.
Members of the group, who were stationed at the gate of the embassy carrying banners with different inscriptions, commenced their sit-out with the national anthem.
The members of the group were chanting, ”No going back! No going back!! If you see Baba Buhari, tell am say make him bring our people back home” in front of heavily armed police officers guarding the embassy.
Mr. Oputa expressed dissatisfaction with the government for not ensuring the safe return of its citizens being dehumanised in Libya.
“We are horrified by the reports and footage of hundreds of Africans, including Nigerians, being sold into slavery by slave dealers in Libya as published by CNN and several other international media houses.
“This is the only country that I know that the citizens are scared of government; in every other developed countries, it is the government that are scared of it citizens”, he said.
The group alleged that thousands of Nigerians are still stranded in the Northern Africa region and appealed to the government to evacuate them.
“As far as I am concerned, it’s not enough that the federal government just brought back over 200 people. For what? There are thousands of thousands of people stuck in Libya. What are we doing?”
The vocal musician painted a pitiable picture of the horrors being faced by the victims.
“I saw someone, an Arab man urinating into a lady’s mouth. I saw another person defecating on a black man though I cannot specifically point out his nationality. Your fellow human beings, and then you now start to go back and rewind what made these people leave their own country and they are stuck as slaves. This is the time Nigerian youth need to wake up. Because if you don’t act now, you will have no future in this country. So the time to act is now”, Charly Boy said.
Adeyaju Deji, the co-convener of the group also added his voice to the agitation.
“How can an African sell a fellow African for as low as $400; that is the less than the price of an Iphone. An iphone is a thousand dollars.
“So if we can sell fellow human beings for $400, it means something is fundamentally wrong with us. And we intend to also draw the attention of the government on Monday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, he said.
None of the officials of the embassy came out to address the protesters.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to ensure all Nigerians stranded in Libya are returned home.
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