The Nigeria Union in South Africa has confirmed the killing of a member, Kingsley Ikeri, at Vryheid town in Kwazulu Natal Province on Aug. 30.
Ikeri, 27, was a businessman and native of Mbaitolu in Imo.
Mr Bartholomew Eziagulu, Chairman of the union in the province, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Durban on Friday that Ikeri was allegedly tortured to death by the police.
He said the union’s investigations revealed that the police arrested the deceased and a friend on suspicion that they were carrying hard drugs.
He said while interrogating him, the police used plastic to cover his face to extort information from him.
“ In the process, they suffocated the deceased suffocated. When the police took him to the hospital, he was confirmed dead,” he said.
Mr Adetola Olubajo, the Secretary General of the union, said the national secretariat had been informed about the death of the Nigerian.
He said the body had informed appropriate Nigerian authorities and the police in South Africa.
NAN reports that a senior diplomat from the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg had visited Vryheid on a fact-finding mission.
Some members of the union and other Nigerians accompanied the diplomat to the town