Family members of a Nigerian student killed in Nicosia, Cyprus by a woman driver have pleaded with the Federal Government and the security agencies for intervention.
The family said the victim, 20-year-old Gabriel Soriwei, a first year student of Electrical/Electronic Engineering at the International University, Nicosia, was knocked down on July 13.
Thereafter, he went into a coma for close to two months before he eventually died on September 7. On September 12, the authorities of the university flew his remains via Turkish Airlines as “cargo” to his family in Nigeria.

The deceased’s father, Mr. Patrick Soriwei was forced to travel to Cyprus for enquiries on the death of his son where the Cyprus police told him that the woman driver lost control of the car, knocking Gabriel down in the process.

The Soriwei family is miffed by the fact that neither the authorities at the Cyprus International University nor the family of the woman driver deemed it necessary to send a condolence message.

The family said it’s more painful because the authorities of the university and the country’s police were hiding the identity of the woman from them.

The Cyprus police were said to have insisted that the practice in their country does not allow them to reveal the identity of such killer drivers to families and relations of their victims.
A statement by the family, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent on Monday said:

“While the family has accepted the reality of the painful loss of our child, his death has raised some issues about the value placed on the life of the Nigerian outside the shores of this country.

“It was reliably gathered that the woman was drunk even though we have no proof of it. The police said that the woman was detained for three days and released.

“Painfully, our investigations revealed that the university, which was said to be pursuing the case and which is host to about 700 Nigerian students, has shown lack of interest in the case.

“Also, several entreaties made by the family to the school authorities to send the belongings of the late Gabriel to Nigeria have been ignored.

“We have informed the Nigerian Embassy in Cyprus and the mission there does not seem to see this demand to defend the rights of Nigerians in a foreign country as a priority.

“The best the Nigerian Mission in Ankara has done was to send one Uche to the university to find out the cause of the death. The Mission has not rendered the necessary assistance in getting the police to write a report on his death. This delay in writing this report, we believe, is inspired by a plot to subvert the process of justice in this matter.

“Consequently, we have written to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the leadership of the National Assembly, with copies of the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria, and others.”