President Bola Tinubu has declined to receive a special delegation from South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, over the ongoing xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, directing the visiting team to instead meet with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye.
Reports say the South African delegation, led by International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola, arrived in Abuja on Friday with a message from President Ramaphosa, seeking an audience with President Tinubu without prior notice.
The development follows renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other African nationals in South Africa, which forced the evacuation of nearly 600 Nigerians back home.
The diplomatic row deepened after South African government rejected Nigeria’s plan to seek compensation for properties abandoned by Nigerians fleeing xenophobic violence, insisting that legally-acquired assets remain protected under South African law and do not warrant government compensation.
South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who stated this three weeks ago, requested Nigeria to identify locations allegedly used for drug-related activities by Nigerians in South Africa.
“We’ll be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are so they can show us where they’ve been holding the drugs so that we can clean the drugs in South Africa quite urgently,” she said.
Reports say that the delegation, led by South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, had wanted to meet with the Nigerian President after arriving in Abuja on Friday.
But Tinubu instructed them to engage with Ambassador Enikanolaiye, who was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in June 2026 after Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was elevated to the substantive ministerial position following the exit of Yusuf Tuggar.
Receiving the South African delegation in Abuja, Enikanolaiye said Tinubu directed him to engage the envoys on resolving the crisis, stressing that the longstanding relationship between Nigeria and South Africa should not be undermined by attacks on African migrants.
“It is with profound pleasure that I welcome our brothers from South Africa. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had actually asked us to meet with you and exchange views and perspectives on how to address and resolve the ongoing Afrophobic attacks in South Africa, of which Nigerians, and other citizens of Africa, have been victims,” he said.
The minister lamented the recurring attacks on Nigerians, recalling that such incidents had persisted for decades.
