Nigeria, South Africa row won’t affect ex-militants

AS the diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa lingers with both countries deporting each other’s nationals, the Presidential Amnesty Office in Nigeria has assured that the feud will not affect the former militants currently being trained in South Africa.

Head of Media and Communications at the Amnesty Office, Henry Ugbolue, told The Guardian yesterday that there was no threat to the continued training of the former militants in South Africa.

“They are in school and there is no threat of their deportation”, he said.

However, it would be recalled that Chairman of the Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, recently decried alleged South African media hostility to the trainees.

About 700 of the erstwhile militants are undergoing formal education and skill acquisition programmes in aviation, oil and gas, marine engineering, crane operation, among others, in South Africa.

Kuku, at a recent meeting with South Africa’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Mamabolo, had decried “the penchant of the media in South Africa to incite the government of that country” against former Niger Delta agitators currently on training in that country.

He faulted a documentary packaged for broadcast by the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which, according to him, clearly denigrated the Nigerian trainees in South Africa.

He had said the documentary was deliberately packaged to blackmail the security agencies and other governmental institutions in South Africa into employing strong-arm tactics in dealings with the former militant youths.

The deportation feud between Nigeria and South Africa started last Thursday when about 125 Nigerians were deported from the Johannesburg airport.

On Monday, 28 South Africans were also deported from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. Another 56 South Africans were on Tuesday deported.

In response, the National Assembly has expressed strong displeasure with the way Nigerians are treated by South African officials.

The Nigerian and South African governments are reportedly exploring ways of resolving the crisis that has heightened diplomatic tension between both countries.