* Lawmakers also demand arrest of killers of military officers
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senate on Tuesday strongly condemned the renewed wave of xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other African nationals in the Republic of South Africa, directing the Federal Government to immediately secure written assurances from Pretoria on the safety of Nigerians while demanding the arrest and prosecution of those behind the violence.
The upper chamber also warned that Nigeria’s longstanding commitment to African solidarity should not be mistaken for weakness, insisting that the repeated intimidation, displacement, unlawful profiling and attacks on Nigerians had gone beyond immigration enforcement and now amounted to outright xenophobic hostility.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, who lamented the renewed campaign of intimidation against Nigerians after anti-migrant groups in South Africa issued an ultimatum directing undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country by June 30, 2026.
