By Editor
Nigerian High Commissioner Designate to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, has appealed to the government of South African to expedite action in curtailing the unending killings of Nigerian nationals in the country, while stepping up effort to apprehend and prosecute those responsible for the killings
In reaction to the recent gruesome murder of a Nigerian, Bishop Michael Taiwo Fakunle and another, Mr. James Uchechukwu Nwankwo in Johannesburg, the Envoy expressed shock, saying the two deaths had further raised concerns over the safety of Nigerians in South Africa.
Fani-Kayode said Fakunle and Nwankwo were the seventh and eighth Nigerians to have been murdered in South Africa in 2026.
He also said more than 100 Nigerians had been killed in South Africa since 2022, with over 30 allegedly killed by officers of the South African Police Service and South African Defence Force.
Fani-Kayode said it was disturbing that despite repeated concerns raised by the Nigerian authorities, nobody had been arrested, detained, prosecuted or brought to justice over the killings.
He called on the South African Government to do more to protect Nigerians and ensure that those responsible for the killings were brought to justice.
“No-one deserves to be targetted and murdered simply because they are Nigerian,” he added.
Fani-Kayode said the Nigerian community in South Africa and the Nigerian Mission were deeply concerned about the developments.
He also expressed concern over what he described as another deadline issued to African nationals, including Nigerians, to leave South Africa by September 30.
He said the deadline was issued by South African non-governmental organisations which he accused of making threats against African nationals.
“This deadline, like the last one, was issued by a number of brazenly racist, xenophobic and Afrophobic South African Non-Governmental Organisations who have openly threatened to target and harm our nationals if their illegal deadline is not complied with,” he added.
Fani-Kayode urged the South African Government to protect Nigerians from what he described as the excesses of the organisations and their members.
He further called for justice for Nigerians who had been subjected to what he described as trauma, terror, torture and killings.
Fani-Kayode said Nigeria would continue to seek stronger relations with South Africa but warned that the killings and discrimination against Nigerians must stop, adding that Nigerians in South Africa deserved the same protection South Africans receive in Nigeria.
