The British Surgeon Murdered In Delta State

07/11/2017, 6:46:10 PM: ‪+234 803 301 3666‬: You would most likely never have heard  of this man....

Ian Squire, 57, ran his own opticians in Shepperton, Surrey, and had been founder and chairman of Christian charity Mission for Vision since 2003. Their mission? To take old glasses to remote African areas from donations to his surgery in Surrey.

He also invented a portable solar-powered frame and lens cutting machine to enable prescription glasses to be made in remote regions of the world.

Ian , and 3 other charity workers, were recently in the small village of Ekameta in Delta state of Nigeria. Their mission? To offer cataract operations and eye check-ups to local people and to set up a much needed eye clinic in the remote village.

Were they feted and welcomed by the local community, made to feel at home and protected by all and sundry for the laudable, humanity-driven and selfless services they were rendering? No!!

He was kidnapped from his accommodation along with three other Brits, David Donovan, his wife Shirley and Alanna Carson  in the early hours of October 13.

And following negotiations by the British High commission and Nigeria  authorities, the three other Britons were released but not before the militants had killed Ian!!!

So the reward for selfless humanitarian service is death? And long after the Denizens of hell, these abhorrent animals would have spent their paid ransom, Ian Squire 's family , friends and clients would continue to mourn the loss of a man who has been described as a " a lovely, quiet man who everyone knew and loved as the village optician.".

And the people of Ekameta would suffer the loss of an humanitarian  who wanted to help them see only for them to be plunged into darkness by their own hands.

I urge the Nigerian government to do all within its power to track down and to administer appropriate and full justice to these murderers.  And the people of Ekameta and environs have a duty to assist law enforcement agencies in their task to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book.

That way at least his family would obtain some solace and the battered image of Nigeria slightly repaired.

Rest in Peace Ian Squire. Your killers shall know no peace.