Final Rescue Flight Returns 315 Nigerians from South Africa
Nigeria will bring home the last group of its citizens fleeing xenophobic violence in South Africa on Wednesday, closing a five week rescue operation that has drawn hundreds of traumatised returnees back to Lagos and pushed relations between Abuja and Pretoria to one of their tensest points in years.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement on Tuesday, signed by its spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, that an Air Peace aircraft carrying 315 returnees would depart Johannesburg at 1:30 a.m. and touch down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at about 6:30 a.m. on July 15, 2026. “The last and fifth evacuation flight from South Africa operated by AirPeace is expected to depart Johannesburg with 315 returnees on Wednesday 15th July 2026 at 1.30am and the estimated time of arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos is 6.30am,” the statement read.
That flight will bring to more than 1,450 the number of Nigerians airlifted home since the exercise began on June 11, 2026. According to the ministry, four earlier flights had already returned 1,141 people, in addition to 66 evacuated by a private individual and another 39 flown in through arrangements made by Air Peace. The returns have come in batches, with earlier flights landing on June 11, June 24, June 30 and July 3, each carrying men, women and children who registered voluntarily and were screened before departure.
The exodus was triggered by a fresh wave of anti immigrant violence that swept several South African provinces from April, driven by citizen led movements known as March and March and Operation Dudula. The groups, whose campaigns targeted foreign owned shops, street traders and even access to public hospitals, set an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave. The South African government repeatedly stated that the ultimatum carried no legal weight, but the fear on the ground proved harder to contain. Beyond Nigeria, migrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mozambique and other African nations also fled in their thousands.
The human toll gave the crisis its urgency. Nigeria condemned the killing of two of its nationals in late June, identified as Emeka Charles Iroegbu, allegedly killed by Tshwane Metro Police officers on June 28 in Sunnyside, Pretoria, and Musa Yunana Joe, shot dead the same day in front of his shop in Witbank, Mpumalanga. The government also recalled the April 20 death of another Nigerian, Nnaemeka Mathew Andrew Ekpenyong, allegedly at the hands of the same officers.
Abuja’s response hardened as the deaths mounted. In a strongly worded statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that “all options remain on the table” should attacks on Nigerians continue, while the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, cautioned that “there are no signs that the situation is improving.” The Senate joined the fray, ordering its Committee on Foreign Affairs to investigate the attacks and report within two weeks, after some lawmakers pressed unsuccessfully for a severance of diplomatic ties.
The episode has revived painful memories of previous xenophobic waves that have periodically strained ties between Africa’s two largest economies, most notably the 2019 attacks that also forced Nigeria to evacuate citizens. South African authorities, for their part, have pointed to enforcement figures, reporting that more than 35,000 people were repatriated or deported between early June and July, while framing the unrest against a backdrop of a 32 per cent unemployment rate recorded in the first quarter of 2026.
For the returnees, many of whom say they lost homes, businesses and years of savings, the journey home marks both relief and reckoning. The acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Temitope Alexander-Ajayi, has said the government is documenting abandoned properties and businesses with a view to pursuing compensation from Pretoria, signalling that the diplomatic aftermath may outlast the airlift itself.