President Muhammadu Buhari has given instruction for the immediate<\/p>\n
voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians who are willing to return home
\nfrom South Africa.<\/p>\n
The President gave this order after he received the report of the
\nspecial envoy sent to South Africa to convey a Special Message to
\nPresident Cyril Ramaphosa over the recent xenophobic attacks in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
President Buhari had sent Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Director-General,
\nNational Intelligence Agency (DG, NIA) as his Special Envoy to South
\nAfrica, to convey a Special Message to his counterpart, President Cyril
\nRamaphosa, following xenophobic attacks.<\/p>\n
According to a statement by the President\u2019s special media aide, Mr Femi
\nAdesina, the Special Envoy, who was in Pretoria from Thursday, 5th to
\nSaturday, 7th September 2019 conveyed the deep concern of President
\nBuhari and Nigerians about intermittent violence against Nigerians and
\ntheir property\/business interests in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Mr Adesina further disclosed that President Buhari stressed the need for
\nSouth African Government to take visible measures to stop violence
\nagainst citizens of brotherly African nations.<\/p>\n
He stated that President Buhari is worried that the recurring issue of
\nxenophobia could negatively affect the image and standing of South
\nAfrica as one of the leading countries on the continent, if nothing is
\ndone to stop it.<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s media aide noted that the Special Envoy conveyed the
\nassurance of President Buhari that the Nigerian Government is ready and
\nwilling to collaborate with the South African Government to find a
\nlasting solution to the involvement of few Nigerians in criminal
\nactivities, and to protect the lives and property of the larger groups
\nof other law abiding Nigerians and indeed Africans in general, against
\nall forms of attacks including xenophobia.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Buhari further assured that the Nigerian Government will
\nguarantee the safety of lives, property and business interests of South
\nAfricans in Nigeria,\u201d Adesina added.<\/p>\n
In his communique on Monday, Mr Adesina also revealed that on his part,
\nPresident Ramaphosa agreed that the violence was most disconcerting and
\nembarrassing.<\/p>\n
He added that Ramaphosa rejected on behalf of his government, such acts,
\nwhich undermine not only South Africa\u2019s image but also its relations
\nwith brotherly African countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Ramaphosa reaffirmed his stand against criminality and
\ncommitted to do everything possible to protect the rights of every
\nNigerian and other foreign nationals in the country,\u201d the statement
\npartly read.<\/p>\n
On his visit to South Africa, the President\u2019s Special Envoy also
\ninterfaced with his South African counterpart, where they reviewed the
\nsituation of foreign emigrants in general and Nigerians in particular.<\/p>\n
Mr Adesina stated that the envoy and his counterpart agreed to work
\ntogether to find a permanent solution to the root causes of the
\nrecurring attacks on Nigerians and their property.<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s media aide stressed that his principal has taken note of
\nthe report and instructed the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs to
\ncontinue to engage with appropriate Authorities on the concrete measure
\nthe South African Government is expected to take.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has given instruction for the immediate voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians who are willing to return home from South Africa. The President gave this order after he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n