The Nigerian high commission in South Africa has backed Femi Fani-Kayode, its high commissioner, over his allegation of unfair treatment by the South African presidency.
Both governments have traded remarks over the incident in
the past 24 hours.
Fani-Kayode claimed the South African presidency “refused”
to air his speech during its livestream of ambassadors presenting their letters
of credence, but the host country said it was only a “minor operational issue”.
Vincent Magwenya, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson,
said in an X post that Fani-Kayode misrepresented the situation and falsely
referenced the president as an intervening authority in the matter.
But the Nigerian high commission rejected Magwenya’s
comments on Saturday.
“Our Ambassador, H.E. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, @realFFKwas
treated with contempt and disdain and by extension so was Nigeria,” the high
commission tweeted.
“H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who we have the utmost
respect for, did the right thing by intervening. We got the result we wanted.
End of story.”
Hours after Fani-Kayode’s allegations, the South African
presidency uploaded a separate video featuring his speech on its YouTube
channel.
Magwenya said Ramaphosa does not intervene on operational
matters at the public broadcasters, neither did he intervene on Fani-Kayode’s
behalf.
The South African official doubled down his stance under the
high commission’s response.
“Even when it’s institutionalized a lie remains a lie. There
was no such intervention from the President or the Presidency and there will
never be. Read our constitution and laws and familiarize yourself with the SABC
editorial code. Stop disgracing yourself and your country,” Magwenya said.
In his later aired speech, Fani-Kayode said his job was to
reset relations between Nigeria and South Africa.
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