Xenophobia: Anger Over Buhari’s Visit to South Africa

By Oji Odu

Not a few Nigerians have expressed displeasure over President Muhammadu Buhari’s three-day State visit to South Africa which began on Wednesday, October 2, 2019. This is coming less than 24 hours after many explained that there is nothing to celebrate as the country clocked 59 as an independent nation.

According to a statement by the Spokesperson to the President, Garba Shehu, the visit followed an invitation by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the welfare of Nigerians and find a common ground for building harmonious relations with their hosts.

The visit is said to have come up due to recent xenophobic attacks, the evacuation of hundreds of Nigerians and the exchange of visits by Special Envoys of Presidents Buhari and Ramaphosa.

But anger has greeted Buhari’s trip. Many insist it is the wronged time for the state visit.

“Has the ‘Glory’ departed from Nigeria? How could the South African President  have the boldness to invite his Nigerian counterpart to such a meeting, when it was Nigerians that were mostly humiliated in his  Why didn’t he come to Nigeria? Did President Buhari and his advisers weigh the odds against Nigeria before taking such decision?:

These are some of the questions  Nigerians are asking.

Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode id not amused.

For him, both the invitation and the decision of President Buhari to visit that country smack of great disrespect and insult to Nigeria, which prides itself as the Giant of Africa.

He is of the opinion that Buhari should have rejected the invitation due to the attacks on   Nigerians and the destruction of their properties running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

In a tweet, the former Minister wrote: “A President does not reward a foreign power that has just slaughtered his citizens with impunity with a state visit.

“@MBuhari’s visit to South Africa is inappropriate and an insult to the Nigerian people. This is yet another 1st in the ignoble hall of infamy and shame for Nigeria.”

Okon Essien, a political analyst, thinks otherwise. While he welcoms Nigeria’s action to bring back its citizens from South Africa, he believes that the country does not have the backbone to call to order South Africa’s bullying tendencies as it did in the past.

“ This is not the 1970s, 80s or 90s when Nigeria was the real “Giant of Africa”, when it was able not only to call the bluff of aparthied South Africa or Britain or France. This is the 21^st century when those resources are no more due to misgovernance, mismanagement of the country’s resources et cetera.

“ Both past and present administrations have squandered what I describe as the strength of Nigeria. Therefore, they can only fight from the point of weakness and get what they are given,” he said.

For Essien, the President’s visit is just to make another symbolic diplomatic move. He warned that raising the issue of Nigeria’s contributions in ending apartheid exposes the country’s fighting from a position of weakness.

Ameh Peters, a Sociologist and human relations expert is also of the opinion that although the Buhari administration may not have a good scorecard, it does not have the clout to dictate what it wants from Pretoria.

He said: “ Nigeria is not only a mono economy, but highly dependent on foreign goods to survive. Comparatively, it exports $514.3 million worth of goods mostly oil and oil products to South Africa annually (less than one percent of total South African exports), while South Africa exports goods worth $3.83 billion to Nigeria,”