Xenophobia: South Africa shuts Lagos Consulate

First Political Secretary of the South African High Commission in Nigeria Sthenbisi Shongwe speaks to the media outside the South African High Commission in Abuja on April 20, 2015
Following anti-Xenophobia protests in Lagos and Abuja, the South African consulate in
Lagos has been shut.





P.M.NEWS gathered that the consulate was
shut to prevent harm being done to officials
and workers at the consulate.
Dozens of Nigerians carrying placards on
Tuesday protested the attacks on black
immigrants in South Africa at the country’s
embassy and the MTN Head office, both at
Maitama, Abuja.

The protesters, led by members of the
National Association of Nigerian Students,
NANS, demanded an immediate end to the
attacks and killings of fellow blacks in South
Africa. They also threatened to attack South
African nationals and businesses in Nigeria, if
the attacks did not stop within 72 hours.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards
read: ‘Say no to Xenophobia,’ ‘Xenophobia is
Evil,’ ‘South Africa, Enough is Enough.’
NANS President Tijani Usman explained that
the protest was organised to register
students’ grievances against the attacks on
African immigrants and their businesses in
South Africa by local mobs.
“Africa is our own and we should not be
racists in our own continent.

“We condemn such acts and we call on
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa to
address this issue with immediate effect,
otherwise South Africans in Nigeria will not
find things easy here; we will make sure they
are deported and we will shut all their
businesses.

“This is a signal; we are giving them 72 hours
to stop all attacks; if they fail, they will face
the wrath of Nigerian students.’’
Usman appealed to the United Nations to call
the South African Government to order,
adding that it seemed not to have taken any
serious action to address the problem.
Investigations also revealed that the South
African Lagos consulate might have been shut
following a threat of reprisal attacks by
members of the Oodua Peoples Congress,
OPC, on South African nationals and
businesses in Lagos.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday,
the Founder of the OPC, Frederick Faseun,
appealed to the South African Government
to halt further attacks on Nigerians in South
Africa.

“While the Nigerian government and the rest
of the world seek a diplomatic solution to
this season of madness, the OPC hereby
warns that South Africa must end this rash of
xenophobia within 48 hours. These ill-
advised attacks are capable of bringing out
the beast in the best of men. And we will not
watch as fellow Nigerians are wantonly killed
in cold blood.

“Enough is enough. South Africans must know
that nobody has a monopoly of violence.
They must halt the killings, the maiming and
the looting of foreigners’ shops in their
country. These incidents of xenophobia will
provoke reprisals against South Africans and
their interests in other lands,” Faseun
warned.
When asked exactly what OPC would do if
South Africa failed to stop the attacks before
the specified deadline, Fasehun said, “South
Africa has many business interests in Nigeria
but of course, you do not expect me to
reveal what we will do until the time is
right.”

Meanwhile, the South African government
has deployed soldiers to volatile areas in
Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal in a bid to
quell the anti-immigrant violence.
The deployment was made on Tuesday as
xenophobic attacks that have left at least 7
dead began to decline.