‘The red line has been drawn’ — Onyeama speaks on actions against South Africa

Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, says there is no going back on the measures taken against South Africa over the fresh attacks against Nigerians.

Addressing state house correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the minister said the red line had been drawn.

He said the federal government has demanded full compensation for all Nigerians involved in the attacks in South Africa.

“We want to assure all Nigerians that this government is determined that the red line has been drawn and we will not give in on this occasion,” he said.

“The South African government has to assume its responsibilities and do the right thing. Protect Nigerians and other Africans I must say, in South Africa. Full compensation has to be paid because as we have discovered from previous experience, a lot of these Nigerians lose their property and it is a long drawn out process and very often are not compensated for it. But on this occasion, the Nigerian government is going to fight for full compensation and hold the government of South Africa to count.

“And we are going to consider other options to ensure that the message gets across to the government of South Africa. It is not a question of weakness or anything of the sort but we have to move decisively and that is precisely what the government is going to do. We have all the options on the table and on the return of the special envoy, we will all sit down and look at all the options and assess the report.

“We have been in touch with the South African government at the very highest level with the President of South Africa as to what we want to achieve. The special envoy has very clear directives about the commitment and the guarantees that we expect from the South African government.”

He warned Nigerians against reprisals, saying Nigerians have investments in some of the companies run by South Africans.

“Mr. President is appealing to Nigerians, the government is acting, we cannot state everything out in public domain with regards to what we are doing obviously,” he said.

“Of course a lot of things have been circulating on the social media which have not helped matters. Some of them have really distorted the situation and because of that have impacted on our response.

“So, number one is that the information we have from the High Commission, from the Consul General in South Africa is that no Nigerian life has been lost during this crisis. And I think that is very important because on social media, there is a lot of stories going around of Nigerians being killed, jumping off buildings and being burnt. This is not the case.

“What we know is that premises, shops of Nigerians have been looted and property destroyed… Mr. President is particularly distraught at the act of vandalism that has taken place here in Nigeria, in retaliation of what is happening in South Africa.

“The government believes that we have to take the moral high ground on this matter. We are victims here and have made that position clear to the international community and to the South African government. We in Nigeria must not fall into the temptation of also resorting to the acts that we are condemning in others.

“So, Mr. President has pleaded and he is likely to make a statement on this, addressing the Nigerian people to please desist from acts of vandalism and aggression, destroying properties.

“Now, these businesses- Shoprite, MTN and others, yes they are owned South African but these are subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. So, as attacks are made against shoprite and other such institutions, it is actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians.

“So the people that will suffer from those acts of vandalism and aggression are not South Africans or anyone else but Nigerians. But morally, it is wrong not even because of who will suffer and not suffer.”