Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), yesterday, shut down organisations belonging to South African over xenophobic attacks.
Offices shut down during the protest included Stanbic IBTC Bank, MTN and Multi Choice.
The students has converged on the branches of the South African companies located in Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, the state capital, yesterday.
Led by Azeez Adeyemi, national public relations officer of NANS, the students carried placards with different inscriptions, registering their grievances to the mindless killings of Nigerians and looting of their properties in South Africa.
While speaking with journalists, Adeyemi said the action of the group will send a strong message to the South African government, adding that the leadership of students in Nigeria cannot continue to sit idly and watch South Africand kill Nigerians in the name of xenophobia and still flourish in their businesses in Nigeria.
“We cannot watch our brothers in in South Africa being killed in the name of xenophobia. Our plan is this struggle; we have shut down MTN, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Multi Choice Offices.
“For every action there is equal and opposite reaction, our own reaction here will be three times their own actions.
“If they destroy a Nigerian business over there, we will shut down six South African businesses here and if they reopen any organisation that we have shut down, they will see the wrath of Nigerian students. We will not hesitate to show them what Nigerian students can do,” Adeyemi submitted.
He declared that the offices will not be allowed to open for business until the national president of NANS gives contrary directive.
“The protest will cut across all states of the federation,” he said.
NANS had earlier shut down offices of MTN and DSTV in Benue and Kaduna states due to xenophobic attacks which the claimed led to the death of “118 Nigerians in the last two years.”
While Abah Owoicho, NANS deputy zonal coordinator, zone C, led the protest in Benue, Dominic Philip, the organisation’s director of travels and exchange, had spearheaded the demonstration in Kaduna.
The group had in its previous statement threatened to shut down the South African embassy, DSTV, MTN, and other businesses connected to the country in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramahosa, are billed meet soon to discuss and find lasting solutions to the continuous xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabire-Erewa, made the disclosure at a press conference she jointly addressed with Tayo Faniran and Danielson Akpan, president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Dabiri-Erewa said the two leaders meeting in Abuja will also dwell on other bilateral issues that will strengthen the relations between the two countries.
Dabire-Erewa, who noted that the xenophobic attacks in South Africa on Nigerians has reached a tipping point, said decisive action must be taken in order for it not to degenerate out of control.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and that of South Africa will also meet as soon as the new cabinet of President Buhari is constituted, she said.
At the press conference tagged “Enough is Enough”, Akpan issued a seven-day ultimatum for South African businesses in Nigeria to leave.
He also called on Nigerians in South Africa to return to home since they are no longer wanted.
But Abike-Dabiri declared that the issue has not got to that level and would be handled by leaders of the two countries.
She declared Faniron as the champion of Xenophobia Africa, following his decision to volunteer to champion a new narrative that will end the attacks and preach unity and peace among Africans.