Attacks on Nigerians: South African leaders responsible for cowardly act – APC

* Insists Nigerians deserve better treatment from host
country

Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party has said that
South African leaders cannot be exonerated from the spike in
xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other foreign nationals in
their country.

In a statement signed by APC National Publicity Secretary Mallam
Lanre Issa-Onilu, the ruling party noted that it is too early for
South Africans to forget their country’s history.

Calling on South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC)
to step into the worrisome situation, the APC national leadership
insisted that Nigerians in South Africa deserve better treatment
from their host country.

The statement reads:

“The APC strongly condemns the recent South African
xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, particularly on Nigerians,
their property and businesses.

“As a party, we are deeply saddened by these unwarranted
attacks. Nigeria deserves better from South Africa. It is too early
for South Africans to forget their country’s history.

“Many of the key players in the struggle against apartheid
are still alive and active in the country’s national affairs. We,
therefore, cannot understand why there seems to be a conspiracy of
silence on their part.

“The barbaric attack on citizens of other countries points
to a failure of leadership. South African leaders cannot exonerate
themselves from this cowardly act. We call on the South African
ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), to urgently step
in.

“This is completely at variance with what ANC stood for. The
ANC government can no longer pretend about this obvious
contradiction.

“The violence being meted to Nigerians under ANC calls to
question the very essence of the struggle against apartheid in
which Nigeria was a frontline ally of South Africa.

“How can those who supported you and made huge sacrifices
for your freedom become fair games to be murdered in cold blood?
Perhaps there is a disconnect between the younger and older
generations of South Africa.

“The older generation cannot sit back while the uninformed
youths and some South African public officials in their quest for
inordinate populism destroy what we collectively achieved over
several decades of sacrifice and brotherliness.

“Today, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the South
African High Commissioner to Nigeria over the xenophobic attacks on
Nigerians. This is one of the first steps in this government’s
proactive response to this unfortunate incident.

“We assure Nigerians that the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration would continue to take decisive measures. The safety
of Nigerians – home and abroad – is non-negotiable to the APC
administration,” the statement read.

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