The Xenophobia attacks on Nigerians and foreigners in South Africa have generated a number of retaliatory response from Nigerians. From the “enough is enough hashtags” on various social media platforms, to the looting and burning down of some South African owned companies.
Below are the Five (5) major retaliatory events carried out by Nigerians in the last 36 hours.
1) Protesters mob Shoprite:
Nigerians, in bitter reaction to the killings and looting of Nigerians by South Africans, mobbed Shoprite malls around the country, particularly in Lagos. These include the Ikeja City Mall, Circle Mall Jakande, Shoprite Mall Osapa and Novare Mall Sangotedo. This act has been viewed by many including celebrities and the government as mere vandalization. In the federal government’s response to the attacks, the Minister for Arts and Culture stated that, although a South African owned company, Shoprite is a Franchise with many Nigerians as investors. This infers that the ripple effect of the Nigerians’ attack on Shoprite will only hurt Nigerians, who includes the investors and employees.
2) Tiwa Savage cancels show:
Tiwa Savage took to her Instagram handle to cancel her show which was set to hold in South Africa at the DSTV Delicious Festival. The popular singer made it known that she could not watch her brothers being butchered by South Africans. A lot of South African took to her post to make trolling comments against her in response to her decision.
Basket Mouth, a famous Nigerian comedian, also recently cancelled his trip to South Africa for the Comic Choice Awards.
See his post below:
3) Daddy Freeze gets lashed by Juliet Ibrahim:
Daddy Freeze in recalling how Nigerian celebrities took a strong stand for Busola Dakolo, condemned celebrities for not speaking out on the issue of Xenophobia against Nigerians in South Africa. However, in response to his tweet, a famous Nigerian Actress, Juliet Ibrahim called him a hypocrite.
See post:
4) Burna Boy shades AKA and MI:
Burna Boy, popular Nigerian artist, has lashed out on AKA, a South African Rapper, for his Instagram post regarding Nigerians in South Africa. The Nigerian artist openly cut ties with the rapper and called him retarded. He also slammed MI for speaking up for AKA.
5) MTN office get burnt
In addition to Nigerians’ retaliation against South African owned companies in Nigeria, MTN, which is also foreign-owned was not left. An MTN office in Bodija, Ibadan was burnt to the ground on Tuesday, while another office with MTN mass in Lugbe, Abuja.
It is important to also note that various government officials have responded to the Xenophobic retaliation of Nigerians against South African owned company. They include the FCT Minister, Muhammadu Bello and the Governor of Lagos States, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who in their address have called for calm.