Nigeria recalls ambassadors, SA reacts

monjola sotubo

April 27, 2015 7:44 AM

Acting High Commissioner in Pretoria, Ambassador Martin Cobham and the Deputy High Commissioner in Johannesburg, Ambassador Uche Ajulu – Okeke were summoned back to the country for consultations.

The Nigerian government, on Saturday, April 25, 2015, recalled its diplomats in South Africa following recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other foreigners in SA.

Acting High Commissioner in Pretoria, Ambassador Martin Cobham and the Deputy High Commissioner in Johannesburg, Ambassador Uche Ajulu – Okeke were summoned back to the country for consultations.

“The invitation is in connection with the on-going xenophobia in South Africa targeting foreigners, mainly African migrants,” a statement released by the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

However, South Africa has criticized Nigeria’s decision to recall its envoys calling it “an unfortunate and regrettable step.”

“If this action is based on the incidents of attacks on foreign nationals in some parts of our country, it would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode for whatever agenda,” SA’s Department of International Cooperation said in a statement released on Sunday, April 26.

“South Africa remains committed to a strong bond of friendship and bilateral relations with Nigeria. It is for this reason that when 84 of our citizens perished on Nigerian soil, we did not blame the Nigerian Government for the deaths and more than nine (9) months delay in the repatriation of the bodies of our fallen compatriots, or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice,” the statement continues.

The South African government also said that it would raise its concerns about the envoys’ recall “through diplomatic channels with the new administration that will assume office in Nigeria next month.”

The Nigerian Senate had on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, urged the Federal Government to recall the ambassador to SA and also sue Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after he was accused of inciting the attacks with an anti-foreigner speech.

monjola sotubo