Nigerians in South Africa condemn calls for protest against them

Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa (NICASA) on Wednesday condemned tweets by a group of South Africans calling for the staging of protest against its members.

NICASA President Ben Okoli condemned the calls in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.

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He said the calls for the protests to hold at the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria and the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg on Sept. 23 were incitements

Okoli said the University of Cape Town had carried out an investigation and found out that the group was out to incite foreign nationals living in the country, including Nigerians, via hate speeches.

“The published research put the South African government on notice over the actions of this group known as, ‘Action For Change’.

“The group released the video of what appeared to be an attempted kidnap alleged to have been perpetrated by a Nigerian.

“Analysis of the video showed that nothing in it indicated the involvement of a Nigerian.

“The group went further to promote a call for protest against Nigerians and demanded that Nigerians should leave their country.

“They set Sept. 23 as the date for the protest at the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria and the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg,” he said.

He said the group had identified West Street in Kempton Park and Sunnyside Pretoria as areas with businesses and property predominantly owned by Nigerians.

He said that allegations of drug dealings, kidnapping,  prostitution, and human trafficking leveled against Nigerians were false.

“These allegations are unsubstantiated, therefore, cannot be true.

“It seemed to be an orchestrated plan by some mischief makers to cause xenophobic attacks against Nigerians so that there will be looting – in order to dispossess Nigerians of their property and destroy their means of livelihood with possible death. (NAN)