President Goodluck Jonathan offers to assist UK with NIGERIAN policemen to quell the riots

President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly offered help to UK PM David Cameron. Jonathan was said to have promised to assist by sending Nigerian police to England to help quell the riots, to the chagrin of some Nigerians who think that he should stop the Boko Haram bombing in the country first.

Not many Nigerians have heard about the Famakinwa death. In fact, as the riots raged, Nigerians were waiting to be blamed for the London crisis but were happy that they were not named. A report said, “As members of mandem and hoodgirls gangs and their parents lay waste to parts of North London over the weekend, Nigerian communities braced themselves to be blamed for the rioting and looting. But in an unexpected development, the London Metropolitan Police has not named Nigerians as the main suspects behind the wanton display of criminality. Baba Ijebu, a long time Tottenham resident, commented on the issue: “My son was afraid to go to work today because he thought the newspapers will be full of ‘Nigerians done it’ stories, but for once we are not to blame. We thank God!”
However, President Jonathan was alleged to have offered to assist UK PM David Cameron with policemen to quell the riots. David Cameron last Thursday told MPs the riots in cities across England were “criminality pure and simple”, but there were “far too few police” on the streets. More than 1,500 arrests have been made since the unrest began on Saturday.

Tottenham is the most ethnically diverse area in all of the U.K., where, according to the last British census, some 300 languages are spoken. Large communities of Colombians, Congolese, Albanian, Kurdish, Turkish-Cypriot, Turkish, Somalis, Irish and Portuguese all call Tottenham home. And given the area has the highest unemployment rates in the city – especially amongst the young — it’s not surprising that rival ethnic gangs have staked out complicated territories here and that youth mob vigilanteism is common.

So, it is perhaps unsurprising that Tottenham High Street became Ground Zero for the riots that have swept across London this week.

talkofnaija