Xenophobia: South African xenophobia vs Nigerian internal xenophobia

Topics:
- South African xenophobia vs Nigerian internal xenophobia
- Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians: FG warns S-Africa of dire consequences
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South African xenophobia vs Nigerian internal xenophobia
Written by Azuka Onwuka
Twitter: @BrandAzuka
~Punch Nigeria. Tuesday, March 7, 2017.

Azuka Onwuka

It has become an annual ritual – just like an annual epidemic – for South Africans to engage in xenophobic attacks against their fellow Black Africans resident in South Africa. There are some trends in these attacks. The South Africans do not attack the Indians who have lived in South Africa for a couple of centuries. They do not attack the Pakistanis or the Chinese. They do not attack the North Africans. They do not attack the Whites who have settled in South Africa for centuries and are in control of the economy and the lands. The reason is simple. The colour of the skin of the above-mentioned people is different from that of the Black South Africans. The Black South Africans still see those with a different colour as superior but prefer to vent their anger and frustration on their fellow Blacks who reside in South Africa to eke out a living.

Coincidentally, the xenophobic attacks have been occurring in the tenure of President Jacob Zuma. They did not occur when Dr Nelson Mandela or Mr Thabo Mbeki were in office. One can infer that the body language of Zuma has been encouraging the attacks. Maybe, if he had shown some righteous anger against the attacks or ensured that the perpetrators are severely punished, they would not have recurred.

Ironically, Nigerians have been expressing their anger over the xenophobic attacks. Many commentators remind South Africans the sacrifices Nigeria and other African nations made to end apartheid in South Africa, including hosting many leaders of the African National Congress as well university students from South Africa.


However, the reason the action of the South Africans is shocking to many Nigerians is that we have a track record of not attacking foreigners within Nigeria. Nigerians even treat foreigners better than they treat fellow Nigerians. For example, in spite of the number of times Nigerian football clubs and national teams have been attacked while in other countries, Nigerians usually don't attack foreign teams. On the contrary, on many occasions, during some international matches, Nigerian football fans are known to have swapped support from the national team to the visiting teams if they are not impressed with the performance of the national team. Even if a visiting team beats the Nigerian team or prevents Nigeria from qualifying for an international competition, such a team can even take a victory lap round the stadium without even a bottle of water thrown at them.


However, among Nigerian ethnic groups, this has not been the case. There have been repeated ethnic-cum-religious attacks by natives on settlers, especially in the Northern part of the country. The first record of such attacks was on June 22, 1945 in Jos over fear of domination by Southerners. It was followed on Saturday, May 16, 1953 by the attack in Kano, which occurred as a result of the motion moved by Chief Anthony Enahoro for self-rule by 1956 as well as the planned tour of the North by Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Action Group. Reports of inquiries into the attack showed that it was led by a Northern People's Congress' stalwart, Mallam Inua Wada, who complained that after the North had been booed and insulted in Lagos over their walking out of parliament in protest against Enahoro's motion for self-rule, the Southerners were planning to come to the North to mock them the more. Even though the planned tour of the Action Group was cancelled, the attacks still went on. Ironically, neither Enahoro nor Awolowo was Igbo, but those who bore the brunt of the mayhem were the Igbo.

Then came the Mother of all Attacks in 1966, called the pogrom, in which about 50,000 Igbo were killed mainly in the North, following the 1966 military coups. That trend has continued almost every year since then to the present.

However, one of such attacks should receive an award for being the most bizarre. In September 2005, a man made some cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in Denmark. In February 2006, riots erupted in some parts of Northern Nigeria with Christians (mainly Igbo) killed and their property destroyed. The ludicrous and ridiculous aspect of the attacks was that the Danish man had no connection with the Igbo: Denmark is in Europe while the Igbo are in Africa. The cartoonist is White while the Igbo are Black. Most of those attacked did not even know that such a man existed, neither did they know that he drew any cartoon. But the assumption was that since he was a Dane, he must be a Christian (not minding that he could be an atheist), and since the Igbo are mainly Christians, the anger should be visited upon them. And as usual, nothing was done to the perpetrators. The logical line of action should have been for the protesters to seek the Danish embassy or the United Nations' office and protest in front of it.

These attacks have some similarities with the South African attacks. The first similarity is that the attackers never target the Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, or Whites. Because the attackers don't want to cause trouble for the state and the Federal Government, they don't even attack fellow Blacks from other African countries. They know that the affected countries will frown on such attacks. They limit the attacks to fellow Nigerians, especially from the South of the country and particularly from the South-East. Like the South African attacks, the attacks in the North have continued for decades because the body language of the leaders of the North as well as the leaders of Nigeria condones it. During any of such attacks, some people are arrested to please the media but shortly after, they are released quietly. A recent example is the lynching of 74-year-old Mrs Bridget Agbahime on June 2, 2016 in Kano. Some people were arrested and charged to court. In November 2016, the court freed all the suspects based on the legal advice from the attorney-general of Kano State to that effect. That marked the end of the case. It is just a matter of time for another group to kill some people somewhere.

The perpetrators know that nothing will happen to them. The state governors will not want to take any action against them to avoid being politically unpopular. The Federal Government will not want to take any action to avoid offending the North. The matter is left to die a natural death. Anybody who talks about it is blackmailed by being accused of inciting the public and spreading hate. Those who killed others and burnt people's property are exonerated while those who condemn such unwarranted and unjust killings are demonised.

Another similarity between the South African attacks and the Nigerian attacks is that just as the poor in South Africa have been made to believe that their poor status is caused by the Black Africans who are in their country "to steal their jobs", so also have the Northern poor been made to believe that their poverty is caused by the Southerners, especially the Igbo, who are in their land to "steal their jobs and opportunities." So, when both of these groups see the progress the settlers are making in their land and compare it with their own financial status, it seems to them that it is true that the settlers are the cause of their privation. Therefore, whenever there is an opportunity, they vent their anger on these settlers, killing them, looting their property or destroying it. The government and leaders, who are indeed the cause of the poverty, take no serious action so as to continue to have scapegoats.

One trait that Africans flaunt is their hospitality. A true African would deprive himself some pleasure to make a stranger comfortable. Attacking foreigners in one's community is not bravery but cowardice.

Nigeria must stop treating attacks on its citizens within or outside its shores with kid gloves. The life of a human being is not the same as the life of a rat. A country's strength lies in the premium it places on the life of every of its citizen.
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Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians: FG warns S-Africa of dire consequences
Written by Clifford Ndujihe, Henry Umoru, Emman Ovuakporie, Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Victoria Ojeme & Levinus Nwabughiogu
~Vanguard Nigeria. Tuesday, February 21, 2017.

ABUJA - AS fear of further attacks against Nigerians in South Africa spreads, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, has called on the South African government to take decisive measures to protect Nigerian citizens and other Africans in the country.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Dabiri-Erewa described the attacks as an unnecessary setback. Urging restraint on the part of Nigerians, she warned that further attacks without any reprimand may incur dire consequences.

She spoke as the Senate, yesterday, called for harder stance against South Africa on the issue, just as the Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Matters, Rita Orji, condemned alleged lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government towards the protection of Nigerians outside the country, saying the government was more interested in remittances than the welfare of citizens abroad.

Anyene said the union had reported the incident to the Nigeria mission and South African police.

"As we speak, five buildings with Nigerian businesses, including a church, have been looted and burned by South Africans.

''One of the buildings is a mechanic workshop with 28 cars under repairs, with other vital documents burnt during the attack. Also, the pastor of the church was wounded and is in the hospital receiving treatment," Anyene said.

Disturbed by the renewed attacks, Dabiri-Erewa advised Nigerians to be extra cautious because it looked like South African government seemed to have no control over the attacks.

The SSA, however, urged restraint on the part of Nigerians and warned that further attacks without any reprimand may have dire consequences.


Dabiri-Erewa said the AU was being called to intervene because information had it that there will be more xenophobic attacks against foreigners on February 22 and 23.

"These attacks should not be allowed to continue because it is a big setback," she said.

Two weeks ago, Dabiri-Erewa met with South African High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Lulu Aaron-Mnguni, on the killing of Nigerians in South Africa, who assured that the South African government was investigating the matter.

"We have lost about 116 Nigerians in the last two years. And in 2016 alone, about 20 were killed. This is unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria," Dabiri-Erewa said.

Cesspool of xenophobic attacks

Since 1994, South Africa has been a cesspool of sporadic xenophobic attacks against foreigners with Zimbabweans, Somalis, Mozambicans, Ethiopians, Kenyans, Angolans and Nigerians among others, being the victims.


In the case of Nigerians, the matter has been worsened by recurring police brutality and extra-judicial killings, which in 2014 led Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to describe the South African police brutality on a Nigerian, which was caught on camera as "horror and particularly disturbing."

Tochukwu Nnadi, a 34-year-old Nigerian businessman, was killed by South African police on December 29, 2016.

How it began

In December 1994 and January 1995, armed youth gangs in Alexandra Township outside of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, destroyed the homes and property of migrants and marched the individuals down to the local police station where they demanded that the foreigners be forcibly and immediately removed.

This was to be followed by a series of more violent attacks across the country in 1998, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

In August 2000, seven xenophobic killings were reported in the Cape Flats district of Cape Town. Seven foreigners from different African countries were killed on the Cape Flats. Among those attacked were two Nigerians, one Kenyan and two Angolans.

On May 11, 2008, an outburst of xenophobic violence in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra triggered more xenophobic violence in other townships. First, it only spread in the Gauteng Province. After two weeks, the violence jumped to other urban areas across the country, mainly Durban, Cape Town and Limpopo Province.

In January 2015, Somali shop owner shot and killed a 14-year-old boy, Siphiwe Mahori, during an alleged robbery in Soweto Township. The boy was shot in the neck and died within 15 minutes. Lebogang Ncamla, 23, was another victim when he was shot three times in the arm. The incident triggered waves of attacks and looting of foreign-owned shops.

On March 5, 2015, xenophobic attacks occurred in Limpopo Province. Foreigners on the outskirts of Polokwane left their shops after protesting villagers threatened to burn them alive and then looted shops. Violence erupted in the Ga-Sekgopo area after a foreign shop owner was found in possession of a mobile phone belonging to a local man who was killed.

On April 8, 2015, a spate of xenophobic violence occurred after Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini made comments that foreigners should go back to their home countries because they were changing the nature of the South African society with their goods and enjoying wealth that should have been for local people.

For almost a week, the attacks on foreign nationals reigned. On April 12, 2015, in KwaZulu-Natal, shops in Umlazi and KwaMashu, outside Durban, were torched. In V Section, a shop owned by a foreign national was set on fire by a mob. Five people were reportedly killed.

On April 14, 2015, looting of foreign shops spread to Verulam, north of Durban following a day of clashes between locals, foreigners, and police in the city centre, KwaZulu-Natal. About 300 local people looted foreign-owned shops.

Senate urges harder stance against S/Africa

Piqued, the Senate, yesterday, condemned in very strong terms, the recurring and renewed atta cks on Nigerians in South Africa and asked the Federal Federal government to take a harder stance against the country.

Speaking with journalists, Senate Committee Chairman on Diaspora, Senator Rose Oko, who expressed dissatisfaction over continuous killings of Nigerians in South Africa, said she has written a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to furnish the committee with what really transpired.

"We have written to Ministry of foreign Affairs to avail us with what happened in South Africa between the Police and the man. We condemned, in very strong terms, these attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

"You are aware that in 2016 alone, about 20 Nigerians were killed in extra-judicial manner. Before this time, several had been killed in like manner. There are several incidences of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa. You are also aware that Nigeria/ South Africa have excellent diplomatic ties . In 2013, when there were xenophobic attacks, former President Goodluck Jonathan signed Memorandum of Understanding to re-enforce diplomatic ties," she said.

Noting that killings of Nigerians in South Africa were against all known laws across the globe, Senator Oko said the committee would come up with a motion on the floor of the Senate on the matter.

The chairman wondered why Nigeria should have excellent diplomatic relationship with South Africa, if the country was not hospitable to Nigerians residing there.

"These attacks came notwithstanding the contributions Nigeria made towards liberation of South Africa during the apartheid regime. You begin to wonder why all these attacks? The Federal Government should take harder stance against the country," Oko said.

Rep knocks FG on protection of Nigerians abroad

Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Matters, Rep Rita Orji, decried the Federal Government's attitude towards the protection of Nigerians outside the country, saying the government paid more attention to remittances from citizens abroad than their welfare.

The lawmaker said even if the government decided to keep quiet in the midst of the incessant attacks on Nigerians, especially in South Africa, she will not keep mute.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, yesterday, Orji, who represents Ajeromi Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Lagos State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the government was not doing anything to protect Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Insisting that she was not going to be part of the "conspiracy of silence", Orji said Nigerians in Diaspora were only dear to the government of Nigeria because of the funds they remit to the country.

She also accused the government of over-protecting the businesses and interests of South Africa to the detriment of Nigeria. The government, she said, is not "taking a critical look at what Nigerians in Diaspora face in those countries.

"Are they only important to us just because they need to contribute to national development? Are we calling them ours because we needed to get hard currencies remitted by them? What about their health and their businesses, are they being protected? Are they being taken care of in the treaties we are signing in this country? Have we taken any bold step to make sure that incessant killings of Nigerians abroad unlawfully are being taken care of? These are pertinent questions that any Nigerian that loves life would ask. And why would this conspiracy of silence linger while blood is being shed? Nigerians are being killed like chicken in various countries and Nigerians are becoming endangered species?"

Orji recounted some of the gory murder of Nigerians in South Africa, Libya and other countries some of which she said her committee had investigated and given the report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with no visible action taken.

She flayed the recent South African violence against Nigerians, warning that no country has monopoly of violence.

"South Africa has a lot of business interests in Nigeria; MTN is there, Shoprite is springing up all over the place. Must we protect the foreign interest to the detriment of Nigerians? Now NCC is hell bent on reviewing upwards, the price of data and voice calls in Nigeria to the detriment of Nigerians. Even with the intervention of the National Assembly, NCC is bent on doing that just to protect the interest of the foreigners."

Rep Orji called on the Foreign Affairs Ministry to call for a full briefing from the Nigerian Embassy in South Africa "on how many Nigerians were killed and how many houses were burnt and property looted.

"The South African Government should bear in mind that Nigerians know that they have interests, they have businesses here, they have South Africans here, they should not put their people in jeopardy."

No provisions in the budget - Minister

Responding, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim told the committee that though it is the responsibility of the ministry to protect the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians abroad, funds were not made available to the Ministry until the 2017 budget proposals that are being considered by the National Assembly.

Her words: "It is estimated that there are up to 15 million Nigerians abroad. It is therefore a herculean task for the ministry to provide protection and welfare assistance when no provision was made for that purpose in the budget. Other countries make financial provision for repatriation of remains, lost income and loss of passport, funeral expenses, medical bills, amongst others, which our missions can't due to paucity of funds. Yet, Nigerians expect, unrealistically, missions to offer these services."

According to her, it is only in the 2017 budget that the sum of N400 million was appropriated. "This is clearly inadequate to cover the sheer volume and complexity of the consular challenges facing Nigerian Missions abroad, including the strategic engagement with Nigerians in the Diaspora."

She said the number of Nigerians in prisons abroad was 15,316 as at December, 2015, noting that, "the update for 2016 is not complete as the Ministry is awaiting updates from our missions abroad.

"Regrettably, some Nigerians are on death row in countries like Indonesia, with about 13 inmates for drug related offences."

The Minister said Nigerians in Diaspora remitted over $21 billion in 2015, and that in recognition of the huge potentials of Nigerians in Diaspora for national development, the Diaspora Desks in Nigerian Missions abroad are now to be part of the Economic Section.