Lukman Olabiyi
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora, Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society Organisations, Senator Surajudeen, Ajibola Basiru has cautioned Nigerians against reprisal attacks on South Africans and their investments in Nigeria.
Basiru who is representing Osun Central senatorial district, warned that reprisal attacks on South Africans and their investments in the country could lead to diplomatic row.
He gave the warning via a press release personally signed by him, assuring Nigerians that the government and its commission were doing their best to arrest the ugly trend of xenophobic attacks currently going on in South Africa.
Basiru stated that his committee understood the restlessness of the Nigerian populace to have its pound of flesh against the South Africans which, admitting that the development had reached a boiling point as evidenced from posts on the social, print and electronic media.
He added that the committee understood that Nigerians at home and in South Africa wanted the government to show definitive and concrete effort at easing their suffering in the hands of the South African hoodlums hiding under the cloak of nationalism to perpetrate evil.
Basiru, however, urged Nigerians to be patient and exercise restraints, saying that two wrongs never make a right.
The Senate committee chairman warned that “if we are not careful as a nation, this issue may escalate into an unfathomable row between the two countries with very dire consequences,” saying that urgent and concrete steps must be taken as soon as possible.
He hinted that the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations would be meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the week with a view to getting properly briefed and mapping out clear roadmaps to urgently arrest the dastardly acts.