Obasanjo seeks resuscitation of Nigeria-S/Africa bilateral commission

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on Nigeria and South Africa to resuscitate their bilateral commission, to resolve the incessant xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.

He made the call at the weekend while speaking to journalists at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) pent house, Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

Obasanjo recalled that there was a bilateral commission made of top government officials of both Nigeria and South Africa during his tenure as president of the country which addressed diplomatic issues such as xenophobia.

The former president stated that he had just returned from South Africa, where he met President Cyril Ramaphosa over xenophobia.

He expressed worry over the situation in South Africa, saying, “There is so much at stake and whatever mistake we have made, we have to correct it.”

He commended President Ramaphosa for sending emissaries to apologise to countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique whose citizens were attacked in South Africa.

Obasanjo also advised both President Mohammadu Buhari and President Ramaphosa that when they meet next week, they should ensure that they have a fruitful deliberation, adding that there is the need for both leaders to say the right words.

The former president said: “One of the things they (Buhari and Ramaphosa) are going to do between South Africa and Nigeria is that they are going to have what we established in my time. We called it ‘bilateral commission’. They have raised it during my time; it was at the second echelon level of vice-president, deputy president. But now they have raised it to the presidential level and I understand that our own president would be there within the first week of October. I think that is good because they can iron out issues that must not be left untreated.”

Obasanjo insisted that, not all Nigerians living in South Africa are drug peddlers and criminals, saying:  “There are many of them that are genuine businessmen and professionals  making meaningful contributions to the economy and the social life of that country.

“My joy is that President  Ramaphosa is ready to do what needs to be done to stop these incidents and to put the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa on the right track,” Obasanjo said.

Speaking on how Nigeria assisted South African during the apartheid, Obasanjo said, “We did whatever we did anywhere out of enlightened self interest. We didn’t do it because we wanted to get any accolade. We did it because we believed that, for the black people anywhere in the world and for us to allow the black man anywhere to be treated as a second class citizen, then, we are second class citizen of the world. So, that is our principle upon which we did it.

“South Africa got rid of apartheid since 1994, the young people who are agitating today; they don’t even know what we did. But, we shouldn’t blame ourselves on that because we did what we did and we will do it again.”

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