Buhari headed to South Africa for official visit

President Muhammadu Buhari will visit South Africa in October, Khusela Diko, spokesman of President Cyril Ramaphosa, has said.

Buhari had contemplated cancelling the visit in the wake of the recent attacks on Nigerians in the South Africa, according to a presidency source.

The source had said the Nigerian leader was really worried over the attacks and that honouring the invitation of his South African counterpart was dependent on actions taken to stop the attacks.

But in a statement, Diko said Buhari would still visit Ramaphosa in October.

He said the South African leader received and held discussions with Ahmed Abubakar, the special envoy Buhari sent to convey his concerns to Ramaphosa following violent attacks on Nigerians by South Africans. 

In the wake of the attacks on shops and properties owned by Nigerians in different parts of South Africa last week, Nigeria boycotted the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in the country.

“His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will undertake a State Visit to South Africa in October 2019 to reinforce the strong bonds between the two countries and jointly develop responses to challenges affecting people and businesses in South Africa and Nigeria,” Diko said.

“In the wake of public violence in South Africa and developments in Nigeria around South African businesses based in the West African country, President Cyril Ramaphosa held discussions yesterday, Friday 6 September 2019, with Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Special envoy of The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The visit to Pretoria by the Special Envoy followed a recent meeting between Presidents Ramaphosa and Buhari in Yokohama, Japan, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

“Nigeria stands ready to assist South Africa in establishing the root causes of and developing sustainable solutions to the challenges concerned.

“President Buhari has undertaken that where challenges emerge in Nigeria, the Nigerian government will act against lawlessness and the targeting of South African assets in Nigeria.

“President Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa-Nigeria relations as being firm and strong and said the two partners were resolute in their shared commitment to build an Africa at peace with itself and others.”