South Africa: Obasanjo, Buhari in one boat!

Obasanjo and Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria’s former leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, now seem to be matching in tandem over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa.

In the past months, the two leaders have been behaving like two rams eyeing each other menacingly or two cantankerous cocks thrown into a pit . One of the reasons is that the latter, when it pleased him, would fire letters dripping with bile at the President over the way he handles the affairs of Nigeria.  Each time Obasanjo did that, the Nigerian populace would engage in acrimonious debates, depending on the side one belongs.

Obasanjo exported his epistolary genre to South Africa when he told leader of South-Africa’s Inkatha Freedom Party, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, that Nigerians had “played great roles in the liberation of different peoples in different parts of Africa, including fighting against the apartheid regime in South Africa. He said such kind gestures were, as PMNEWS put it, not motivated by praises or positions but by a sense of duty and obligation as Africans towards fellow Africans. He added that it was a “fallacy” for South Africa to believe that xenophobia would make more jobs available to its citizens.


President Buhari responded to profuse apologies from the South African President, pledging that relationship between the two countries “will be solidified,” while describing the xenophobic attacks as “very unfortunate.”

Mr Radebe apologized on behalf of his President for what he called “acts of criminality and violence” that recently occurred, adding that “such do not represent our value system, nor those of the larger number of South Africans.”

He said South Africa was an integral part of Africa, and is fully committed to peace and integration of the continent.

The Special Envoy disclosed that 10 people died during the attacks – two Zimbabweans and eight South Africans. He said there was no Nigerian casualty.

He added that South Africa remains eternally grateful for the role Nigeria played in ending apartheid, and hoped that the coming visit of the Nigerian President would solidify relationship between the two countries once again.