The crime would perhaps be unsurprising, even if still unjustifiable, had it occurred in one of the primitive backwaters of the world where the rule of the jungle prevails and life is solitary, nasty, brutish and short. But the dastardly beating to death of a physically challenged Nigerian, Alika Ogorchukwu, a 39-year-old street vendor, by a white Italian took place in broad daylight on a main shopping street in Civitanova Marche, a city that is an estimated 240km from Rome, Italy, a supposedly leading light of western civilisation.

The deceased, according to local media reports in Italy, sold tissues and small accessories in the city, a means of survival and supporting his family he took to Italy after he lost his job as a labourer and faced mobility challenges when he was hit by a car while riding a bicycle. His wife told the media that despite his disability, Alika was the breadwinner for the family, which included his eight-year-old son.

It is astonishing that the deceased’s assailant identified as Filippo Ferlazzo pounced on his victim on a busy street and used the latter’s crutch to clobber him to death. His grouse was reportedly that Alika allegedly touched the arm of his girlfriend in the process of trying to sell his wares to them. The girlfriend told the police that her partner had lost his temper because the late vendor kept insisting that they buy something. The head of the association of immigrants in Marche region’s Macerafa province, Daniel Amanza, said Alika had called the attacker’s girlfriend “bella’ which in Italian means ‘beautiful’ and this probably infuriated the man. Surely, these are trivial issues for which a man ought not to be robbed of his precious life.

racist undertones. The white man obviously could not bear the sight of a black man touching his woman’s hand even in the process of a commercial transaction. “Did he have such disdain for the black skin”, it is certainly not out of place to ask? To make matters worse, despite such a barbaric attack taking place on a public street, no attempt was made by onlookers to save the deceased from his assailant. Rather, some of those present were reportedly videoing the scene on their phones. Would this have been the case if it had been a white physically challenged person being assaulted? It is unlikely. The only difference between this barbarism and the torturing to death of a black man, George Floyd, by white police officers in the United States on May 25, 2020, is that Alika’s assailant was a civilian.

However, the police deserve commendation for using street cameras to track the assailant’s movements and eventually apprehending him. This is another demonstration of how technology can be effectively employed to tackle crime in modern societies. The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) responded promptly to this tragedy and has requested the Italian government to provide the deceased’s widow a good job to enable her cater for the family even as the commission’s boss, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, also thanked the Nigerian community in Italy for rallying support and raising funds for the family since the death of their breadwinner. But no less critical is for the commission to stay on top of the issue and ensure that justice is done for the deceased in this case, in accordance with the law.

It is commendable that some leading authority figures in Italy have condemned this brutal killing. For instance, Mayor Tommaso Claudio Corvatta denounced what he described as “a climate of intolerance” that had been prevalent in the city for some time. In the same vein, Italy’s acting health minister, Roberto Speranza, condemned the failure of the crowd to come to Alika’s assistance saying that “Indifference is as serious and unjustifiable as violence”. And writing on Twitter, the head of the left-wing Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, stressed that “Unheard of ferocity. Widespread indifference. There can be no justification”.

Even ideologically far-right leaders such as Matteo Salviva and Giorgia Meloni, known to be very critical against immigration decried the killing and called for the maximum possible punishment for the murderer. We hope that incidents like this will spur Nigeria’s political leadership to provide good governance that promotes development and prosperity so that less Nigerians will feel compelled to travel abroad in search of better lives and our citizens will be treated with greater respect and dignity across the world.

Update news