As Federal government continues efforts to ensure safety of Nigerians in South Africa, indications have emerged that no Nigerian was killed in the latest attacks, as was portrayed in the social media.
This is just as Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama on Wednesday declared that President Muhammmadu Buhari will any moment from now, address Nigerians on the “ real situation in South Africa” after all the necessary consultations.
Onyeama, while addressing State House Correspondents after meeting with the President on Wednesday, said President Buhari will make the address based on the reports to be presented by the Special Envoy who will be in South Africa on Thursday and who is expected back before weekend.
: “We have made it clear that what has happened in South Africa is totally unacceptable. We will not accept it and as I said earlier, enough is enough and we are not going to come back to this, we are going to address it once and for all. So this is the position of government that we are going to draw a redline here. Whatever measures that needs to be taken to ensure the safety of Nigerians in South Africa, we will take.
“We have been in touch with the South African government at the very highest level with the President of South Africa as to what we want to achieve. The special envoy has very clear directives about the commitment and the guarantees that we expect from the South African government.”
Onyeama who noted that a lot of information have been circulating in social media which have not helped matters, added that “ some of them have really distorted the situation and because of that have impacted in our response.
“ Number one is that the information we have from the High Commission, from the Consul General in South Africa is that no Nigerian life has been lost during this crisis. And I think that is very important because on social media, there is a lot of stories going around of Nigerians being killed, jumping off buildings and being burnt. This is not the case.What we know is that premises, shops of Nigerians have been looted and property destroyed”
Federal government had earlier announced that Nigeria was pulling out of the World Economic Forum meeting where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was scheduled to represent the country in South Africa on Thursday
According to him, “ Mr. President is particularly distrot at the act of vandalism that has taken place here in Nigeria, in retaliation of what is happening in South Africa.
The government believes that we have to take the moral high ground on this matter.
“Mr. President has pleaded and he is likely to make a statement on this, addressing the Nigerian people to please desist from acts of vandalism and aggression, destroying properties.
“Now, these businesses- Shoprite, MTN and others, yes there are South African but these are subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. So, as attacks are made against shoprite and other such institutions, it is actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians.
“So the people that will suffer from those acts of vandalism and aggression are not South Africans or anyone else but Nigerians. But morally, it is wrong not even because of who will suffer and not suffer.
“Mr. President is appealing to Nigerians, the government is acting, we cannot state everything, our everything in public domain with regards to what we are doing obviously, but we want to assure all Nigerians that this government is determined that the redline has been drawn and we will not give in on this occasion and that the South African government has to assumed its responsibilities and do the right thing. Protect Nigerians and other Africans I might say in South Africa and we have to hold them to count”
He assured that full compensation has to be paid, adding that previous experiences had shown that a lot of these Nigerians lost their property without compensation
“But on this occasion, the Nigerian government is going to fight for full compensation and hold the government of South Africa to count. And we are going to consider other options to ensure that the message gets across to the government of South Africa.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
