The All Progressives Congress
(APC), South African Chapter, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to
ensure that the lives of Nigerians are safe in South Africa.
Mr Sanni David, the National
Publicity Secretary of the chapter, also called for tougher sanctions against
the Republic of South Africa.
“We expect that President Cyril
Ramaphosa would take tougher stands against such acts of criminality and
afrophobia against their African neighbours.
“The regime of former President
Jacob Zuma paid deaf ears to such incessant attacks and with a new regime, we
thought that things would be different.
“The political class has not
helped in any way as many leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) have
made public statements that are inciteful,’’ David said in a statement on
Thursday.
According to him, with all these
occurrences, it means that the vision of a borderless Africa and Inter-Africa
trade been championed by the AU is a mirage if South Africa cannot tolerate
other citizens and protect their lives.
“There is no country that can
stand on its own, without some form of bilateral relationship. Diplomatic
relationships must be respected and upheld at all times.
“We cannot afford to bury our
citizens because of a government which has failed to act and bring to book
lawless and lazy youths,’’ he added.
According to him, the Chairman of
the chapter, Mr Bola Babarinde, is of the opinion that African leaders show
love to their citizens first, in order to engender their citizens’ desire to
love others.
David quoted Babarinde as saying,
“enough of hatred among Africans.
“Yes most of the attacks are
criminal in nature but something always triggers these acts of criminality
which occurs mostly during or towards elections.
“We are planning our Victory gala
Dinners for April 13, most of our invitees turned down our invitations because
of fear of attacks which honestly is a great concern and we respect their
decision.
“South Africa is losing billions
in tourism investment yet the people that benefit more from government spending
are those causing these problems.
“African countries need to spend
more money on educating their citizens on why there should not be
discrimination among us, we are one family’’.
David said that Babarinde
described as unfortunate the reactions of some chieftains of the South African
ruling party and the press to the recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
“Ramaphosa has not been sensitive
enough in their utterances which may be termed otherwise by less informed South
African citizens who eventually take laws into their hands.
“Nigerian Government should
summon the South Africa Ambassador for an explanation. Elections are fast
approaching, politicians should be sensitive enough to know there will be life
and relationships after the elections.’’
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Are the lives of Nigerians safe in Nigeria?
ReplyDeleteCharity, they say, begins from home.
Secure Nigerians in Nigeria and outsiders will fear to touch them.