Godwin Adama, the Nigerian Consul
General has reacted to alleged fresh ‘Xenophobic’ attack on Nigerian businesses
in South Africa.
Three
Nigerians and other foreign nationals on Tuesday suffered fresh xenophobic
attacks in different locations of Witbank, Mpumanlaga Provinces, South Africa.
But, Adama speaking on the attack
which occurred at Witbank in Mpumalanga district of South Africa by 9am on
Tuesday October 22, said the incident was brought under control within one hour
with the cooperation of the police.
He told NAN some locals and taxi
drivers in the community launched the attack under the guise of fighting crime.
According to him, the attacks
were not related to xenophobia; adding that the fresh attack was crime-related.
He said: “We held a meeting with
the police authorities and they led us to the place where the attack occurred.
Although it happened in a different locality (from the previous one), we agreed
to meet often to prevent reoccurrence.
“The police promised to invite
the taxi drivers association and Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa
(NICASA) to a meeting to discuss and resolve issues amicably. There is no
problem at the moment and we are monitoring the situation keenly and we have
been able to reach a reasonable stage of agreement and help out.
“The government is doing
everything here to fight crime. The locals take laws into their hands thinking
that the police were not doing enough, which is what mostly leads to attack.
People feel there is drug or human trafficking and security operatives are not
meeting expectations, and so they take laws into their hands to fight crime,
but it does not work that way.
Adama added that an effective
implementation of agreements reached between governments of Nigeria and South
Africa will prevent all forms of conflict between its citizens.
“There was nothing like
xenophobia; this attack was crime-related and it is just that some criminals
took advantage of the opportunity to carry out the crime.
“We have draft rules and
agreements in place; it is a people-to-people relationship we want to
concentrate on. If it is government-to-government we do not have much problem
at all.
“It is not a one-day matter to
resolve, but such modality requires constant discussion platforms to enable
people to be able to interact. To be able to arrest criminals, it is better to
take issues related to the crime to the police station, rather than take laws
into your hands,” he added.
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