Tinubu Refuses Audience for Ramaphosa’s Envoy Over Rising Attacks
President Bola Tinubu has declined to personally receive a special envoy sent by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, directing the delegation instead to a junior foreign affairs minister, as fresh killings of Nigerians deepen the rift between Africa’s two largest economies.
The delegation, led by South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, arrived in Abuja on Friday, July 24, bearing what Nigerian officials were told was a “very important message” for the President. It came barely 24 hours after the reported killing of a Nigerian, identified by the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg as Ibeh Chika Simon, 42, from Lokpaukwu in Abia State, during a South African Police Service operation at Parksig Villas Complex, Bellville, Cape Town, on July 23.
Diplomatic sources said Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, advised the Presidency that it was not an appropriate moment to grant the audience, citing continuing attacks on Nigerians, their businesses and property. She was reported to have insisted that Pretoria first present a signed copy of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Early Warning Mechanism, which both countries signed in Abuja on October 22, 2025, before further engagement could proceed. South Africa has reportedly yet to ratify the pact, designed to enable intelligence sharing and rapid response to threats against citizens of either country.
The delegation was eventually received at the Tafawa Balewa House by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye. At the meeting, he traced a disturbing pattern of attacks recurring since 1995, with major flare ups in 1998, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024 and 2026. He said “from 2022 alone, 98 Nigerians have died in mob actions,” describing them as hate related Afrophobic acts in which Nigerians were the primary victims.
Lamola, in reply, said he came to reaffirm the enduring friendship between both nations and acknowledged Nigeria’s role in the anti apartheid struggle. “We remain deeply indebted to the people of Nigeria for their sacrifice,” he said. He maintained that Pretoria opposed xenophobia yet retained the “sovereign right to enforce immigration laws” and to confront irregular migration.
The death of Simon, whom the Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa named as Chika Ibe, has sharpened public anger. A second Nigerian, Egwabor Patrick Chuks, was shot during the same operation and remains in hospital. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate said a preliminary post mortem showed multiple bruises and abrasions on the deceased’s back and chest, while police maintained he became unwell during a search that uncovered an unlicensed firearm and suspected drugs. Footage circulated by the Nigerian community appeared to contradict that account.
Community leaders under NICASA and the Nigerian Union South Africa have put the toll at no fewer than 105 over seven years, including more than 40 in 2023 and over 20 since January 2026. Xenowatch, a monitoring project, has recorded more than 1,300 xenophobic incidents and about 690 deaths since 1994, with roughly 128,000 people displaced.
The strain carries commercial weight. South African firms, among them telecoms giant MTN and pay television operator MultiChoice, count Nigeria among their largest markets, exposure that leaves Pretoria sensitive to any breakdown in relations. Observers cited in reports suggested the outreach was partly driven by concern over those investments and Abuja’s push for tougher continental action.
Nigeria has already evacuated affected nationals in batches, with Vice President Kashim Shettima telling the 69th ECOWAS session in Lungi, Sierra Leone, that 1,490 citizens had been brought home. With the Early Warning Mechanism now a stated precondition for high level talks, attention turns to whether Pretoria will ratify it and whether the IPID inquiry yields prosecutions.