Lagos: The diplomatic relations between Nigeria and South Africa may nosedive again if the Nigerian government heeds the calls by its nationals to take stern action against South Africa following the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other African citizens in Pretoria last week.
Though low-level officials have commented on the attacks and called for caution, the Presidency has yet to act or issue any statement.
The Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special assistant to President Mohammadu Buhari on foreign affairs and the diaspora, last week issued a strong warning that the
continued killing of Nigerians would result in dire consequences if not stopped.
Calling on the AU and the UN to look into the xenophobic attacks, Dabiri-Erewa said they should not be allowed to continue.
She noted that about 116 Nigerians have been lost in the last two years in such attacks. “This is unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria,” she told the SA High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Aaron-Mnguni.
Some Nigerians have taken to their Facebook and Twitter accounts to condemn the renewed attacks and advocated retaliation on South Africans living in Nigeria and SA companies operating there.
Students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students staged a protest at the SA High Commission in Abuja last week, where they also burnt the South African national flag.
The protesting students also issued a 48-hour ultimatum to South African nationals to leave Nigeria and urged the High Commission officials to cancel a dinner in honour of Regina Tambo, co-founder of the ANC Youth League.
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (Huriwa) has also condemned the attacks and called on Nigeria’s acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to summon the SA High Commissioner to Nigeria to protest the killings in xenophobic upheavals by black South Africans.
Huriwa called on the UN Security Council to send peacekeeping missions to South Africa to prevent xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and black Africans because, it said, the SAPS in the last 17 years had “failed to stop these killings and prosecute and punish the perpetrators”.
It called on Nigerians to organise themselves for peaceful protests in Abuja and Lagos and also consider boycotting SA telecommunications and satellite television services.